Eyes on the Street: Red Bus Lanes on Broadway

Eagle-eyed reader Eli Gill sends another picture of modern transportation improvements. This time it’s a red bus-only lane on Broadway.

Santa Monica has opened new bus-only lanes on Broadway as part of the city’s ongoing Broadway Safety Project, a corridor overhaul designed to improve safety and mobility for people walking, biking, and riding transit.

The new transit lanes run along sections of Broadway in downtown Santa Monica and are intended to give buses priority through one of the city’s busiest travel corridors. By separating buses from general traffic, the lanes are expected to improve travel times and reliability for riders of the city’s Big Blue Bus system and other transit services using the street.

The bus lanes are part of a broader redesign of Broadway stretching roughly from 5th Street to 26th Street. The project includes resurfacing the street and installing a concrete-protected bike lane, along with upgraded crosswalk markings, pedestrian safety features, signal timing adjustments, and other traffic-calming measures.

City officials say the improvements are aimed at making the corridor safer for the thousands of people who travel along Broadway each day by foot, bike, scooter, transit, and car. The corridor already sees some of the highest east-west bike and scooter use in Santa Monica, making it a key connection in the city’s expanding bike network.

About The Author

Damien Newton

Damien is the executive director of the Southern California Streets Initiative which publishes Santa Monica Next, Streetsblog Los Angeles, Streetsblog San Francisco, Streetsblog California and Longbeachize.

See author's posts