Los Angeles Mobility Plan 2035
Core idea
Complete streets, transit-first corridors
Why it matters
Big policy pivot in car capital
Description
Mobility Plan 2035 is the transportation element of Los Angeles's General Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2015. It replaced the level-of-service logic of earlier plans with a complete-streets framework, designating citywide networks of transit-enhanced corridors, bicycle lanes and pedestrian-priority streets across the municipal street grid. Prepared by the city's planning and transportation departments, it set out to rebalance road space in a city built around the private car.
Significance
The plan is significant as a formal policy pivot in the city most identified with automobile-oriented planning, and it became a touchstone in American debates over street reallocation, induced demand and traffic safety. Its slow implementation prompted a 2024 ballot measure compelling the city to build the networks it had adopted, making it a much-discussed case of the gap between plan adoption and delivery. It has influenced complete-streets elements in other large American cities.
What shaped it
- Transit-oriented development (TOD) (1993)
- The pedestrian zone (1953)
- The Transit Metropolis (Cervero) (1998)
- Ride-hailing & micromobility (2009–2018)
- Tactical urbanism (2010s)
Plans it influenced
- LA Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) (2017–)
- Paris Plan Vélo & RER Vélo (2015–2026)
Sources
- https://planning.lacity.gov/development-services/eir/mobility-plan-2035-0
- https://cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2015/15-0719_misc_c_7-31-15.pdf