On Friday, January 8, 2016 Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles District Commander Col. Kirk Gibbs announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will be taking new interim measures to improve flood protection on the Los Angeles River during #ElNiñoLA.
Due to the expectations of a powerful El Niño season, USACE recently received emergency federal funding to put in place safety measures for the area of the river that spans from Griffith Park to Elysian Valley.
“Our river is unique — most of the year it runs nearly dry, and then during the rainy season it runs in powerful torrents as we’ve seen this week,” said Mayor Garcetti. “My top priority during El Niño is to ensure the safety of everyone in our city, and I thank the Army Corps of Engineers for taking action now to enhance the river’s flood management functions.”
The Los Angeles District of USACE determined this area needed increased capacity to keep the river in its banks. The L.A. District declared an emergency to USACE headquarters on January 6, prompting headquarters to provide $3.1 million in federal funding and nearly 3-miles of temporary barriers, known as HESCO Bastion. The temporary barriers act as industrial size sandbags, effectively raising the sides of the river channel and temporarily increasing its capacity during the winter storm rains. The District also received approximately $500,000 to begin removing water-flow impeding vegetation from the highest-risk areas within the channel, in an area just upstream and downstream of Riverside Drive and the Zoo Bridge.
Anytime rain is in the forecast the LA River Bike Path is closed for safety (shelters and resources are available for people experiencing homelessness). In the coming months, the raised barriers will allow for the expected volumes and help protect against flooding in adjacent neighborhoods. The barrier will be under construction on the bike path beginning Tuesday, January 19, 2016.
Due to the configuration of the HESCO barriers on the bike path by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the LA River Bike Path will remain closed through #ElNiñoLA season from Zoo Drive to Glendale Blvd (with the Alex Baum Bridge remaining open as a bicycle and pedestrian crossing across the LA River and 5 freeway). North of this location, in the Griffith Park section of the Path, there is also an unrelated intermittent closure due to Caltrans freeway bridge rehabilitation work. Check out the City’s Detour Guide for getting around temporary closures on the LA River bike/ped path here.
UPDATE: As many of you may already know, the Bike Path has been closed due to flood control measures installed by the Los Angeles District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since January 2016. At this juncture, our agencies anticipate the earliest the Bike Path may reopen, post-#ElNiñoLA flood risk and weather permitting, will be Memorial Day weekend.
Stay tuned for updates about construction and planned detour routes. Information will be available via our Blog (where you can also find articles about how to bike through El Nino and more!) and social media channels (@ladotbikeprog) using the hashtag #ElNiñoLA.
Updated 3/16/2016: Current information on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ barrier configuration added.
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Initially, we were told that the LA River bike path from Zoo Drive to Los Feliz Blvd (or Glendale Blvd., not sure) would be closed for 2 weeks starting January 19th, so that flood barriers could be installed. The current blog post above says that due to the configuration of the barriers, that stretch will be closed until the end of the El Niño season. Could you please clarify which is true?
The current version of the blog post, last updated 2/8/2016, provides the most up-to-date information for LA River bike path users.
When will this closure be removed?
The bike path is expected to reopen by Memorial Day (May 30th)
Fabulous! No work is happening but all is well for the new homeless tent city. Good job! Keep it up!
Yep, somehow I seriously doubt that the homeless will just up and leave once those barriers are removed. Not to mention that the path is overgrown and the barriers will have probably destroyed the pavement surface.
All this closure has done is allow the homeless to set up camp. the winter storms (2or3) did not get close to flooding & were not worth spending 3.5 million of tax payers money. Another colossal waste ..