Active Transportation Analysis for LA Metro’s Rail-to-Rail Corridor

Complete streets projects that prioritize active transportation users by developing safe, accessible, and transit friendly boulevards are gaining popularity across the US.

In Los Angeles, Metro’s Rail to Rail/River Active Transportation Corridor Project is aiming to do exactly that, by converting an abandoned railway corridor to a world class pedestrian and bike path, with connections to Metro K, J and A lines.

This $143 million project, expected in early 2025, will run through parts of LA county which have among the highest percentage of residents who commute via transit, cycling, or walking, with nearly 19 percent of households lacking access to a car.

Studying LOCUS travel metrics for this corridor confirms and doubles down on the value of investing in this specific area.

Credit: LA Metro

How People Move in the Corridor

Let’s look at the travel patterns within a 0.25 mi buffer of Phase 1 of the project using 2023 data in LOCUS Person. In terms of total trips, the corridor sees about 220k daily trips. The active transportation (walk/bike) mode share in the corridor is 18%, as compared to 11% countywide.

The share of short-distance trips (2.5 mi or shorter) is also noticeably higher than the county value (49% compared to 38%). 90% of the trips starting in the corridor are by residents of equity-focus communities, compared to 38% countywide. These statistics reaffirm that the corridor is ripe for active transportation investments.

Rail-to-Rail/River Corridor vs. Los Angeles Region

Studying Safety

One of the goals of the project is provide a safer environment for active transportation users, as they commute to work, go to school, or spend leisure time. To see the current state of safety around the corridor, we analyzed crash data (2021-2024) involving pedestrians and bicyclists, and identified the top 25% block groups by crash incidence rates.

Next, we loaded this into the LOCUS project for the corridor as an additional map layer. We found that 31% of the corridor’s daily trips occur in these crash hotspots. LOCUS shows that these hotspots have an even higher share of bicycle and pedestrian trips (21%) as compared to both the corridor (18%) and Los Angeles County (11%). This is a compelling argument in the project’s favor, as it holds promise to improve the safety of users of active transportation in this corridor.

Active Transportation Crashes (2021-2024)

Towards a more connected future

Using LOCUS, planners, analysts, and policymakers can derive quick, reliable insights by analyzing the potential impacts of different types of projects using high-resolution origin-destination travel patterns with distributions by mode, trip purpose, time of day, and many more attributes.

This data is useful to derive quick, high-level insights and to conduct deeper analysis as needed. Using LOCUS to measure the efficacy of suggested road network improvements provides tangible and observable results to strengthen proposal efforts and facilitate future investment decisions.

LA Metro, through their MeasureUp! program, is making LOCUS available to public agencies, universities, and their consultants. Click here to apply for an account.

Interested in knowing more about our equity work? Reach out to us.