Boyle Heights residents will have a chance to voice their thoughts on a proposed bike path extension through the neighborhood at a community meeting this Saturday.
The meeting, hosted by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will provide information on the LA River Path project and get input from residents, according to a Metro announcement.
The project — an eight-mile bicycle and pedestrian path between Elysian Park and the City of Vernon — would close the longest gap in the Los Angeles River Bike Path, a recreational trail that follows the course of the Los Angeles River.
The existing path runs for 7.25 miles between Glendale and Elysian Valley, passing through Griffith Park before stopping just short of Downtown. It picks up again in Vernon and continues 16.5 miles to the city of Long Beach.
Metro estimates that more than 200,000 people live within three miles of the project area, which would pass through southern Boyle Heights where the river runs parallel to Soto Street. A 2016 feasibility study for the project found that approximately 18,000 people in that area walk, bike or take transit to work, but face dangers from “high volumes of truck traffic, deteriorated roadways, a lack of sidewalks and street lighting, and at-grade rail crossings.”
The project has received $365 million in funding from Measure M, a half-cent sales tax increase passed by voters to fund public transit infrastructure in 2016. If Metro receives environmental clearance and building permits, the agency estimates it can begin construction in 2023 and could complete the project between 2025 and 2028.
The meeting will start at 10 a.m. at Boyle Heights City Hall.
