Today was another great day for the great streets of Los Angeles! Corral designs were updated and onlookers watched as the long awaited Willow St. Bicycle Corral was installed in the booming Downtown Arts District.

First stop by the Bicycle Corral Fairy was a check up on our very first corral: the York Bl. pilot. The York Corral, originally installed in February 2011 has seen its share of wear and tear. After the implementation of many more Bicycle Corrals throughout the city, we have learned a few things from their design, removing redundant or incorrect signage, and replacing materials like asphalt islands with more durable rubber wheel stops.

After the healthy refresh at York, the crew traveled to the Arts District where Blue Bottle Coffee customers got an eyeful (and earful) of Bike Corral installation with their morning coffee. The LADOT sign crew and our colleagues at the City’s General Services Department (GSD) installed the new Corral on Willow St. at Mateo next to the neighborhood’s premiere coffee shop and our awesome maintenance sponsor, Blue Bottle Coffee.

Councilmember Jose Huizar was happy to see the new corral, saying “As a long time supporter I’m proud to host the first bicycle corral in the City. LADOT’s new bike corral configuration draws from lessons learned piloted in my district. Thanks to Blue Bottle Coffee for partnering with the City to bring the Arts District its very own bike corral!” The Corral reallocates one auto on-street parking space for 14 spaces for people riding their bicycles.

Eddie, one of our team from GSD, says installing Bicycle Corrals is “awesome because many people riding their bicycles will be able to use it.” He also says that installing corrals is fun work. The Willow Corral’s new neighbors were just as excited to see bike accessibility increase in the Arts District- many stopped to observe the installation and snapped some pictures (we hope for social media! #bikela).

All in all, it was a great day over here in the Bike Program and we’d like to thank our Bikeway Engineers, General Services, Marking, Striping, and Sign crews as well as LADOT Central Yard for a job well done.