After the tragic killing of 77-year-old cyclist Andrew Jelmert, who was struck by a drunk driver going 80 miles per hour in Griffith Park in April 2022, members of the community demanded safety improvements, which the city of Los Angeles seemed willing to do.
However, as community members and cycling advocates gathered in the park to remember Jelmert on the third anniversary of his passing, they lamented the slow progress of those upgrades and the $4 million set aside for the project not being utilized.
A remembrance and advocacy ride was held in the park on April 19 at Crystal Springs Drive – where Jelmert was cycling in preparation for a charity ride when he was struck and killed. Cyclists released three white doves to commemorate the three-year anniversary of his death.
They also held a 186-second “die-in” to remember the 186 cyclists hit and killed in LA since 2015 – the same year when the county began the Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2025. The county website now says the goal is 2035.
“[Jelmert’s passing] had a profound effect upon not only his friends and partner but the cycling community in general and the community around Griffith Park,” said Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), a nonprofit safety group.
“But this was also an opportunity to highlight the failure of the city of Los Angeles and the [Department of Recreation and Parks] to use the money that’s been sitting there for years now to implement safety improvements that it had planned out.”
According to documents from the Griffith Park Advisory Board in July 2022, which Kewitt said were finalized a few months later, there are short-term, mid-term and long-term improvements planned for the park across six phases. The first three phases are meant to be short-term upgrades.
The first phase is the permanent closure of Griffith Park Drive. The second phase is installing six speed humps and two radar speed feedback signs in the park that rotate locations every three months. The third phase involves implementing buffer zones between the bike and car lanes on Crystal Springs Drive, repairing portions of the pavement and installing Class II bike lanes in Zoo Drive.
In a statement to SAFE, the Department of Recreation and Parks (Rec and Parks) said, “ [Phases I and II] have been completed. Recreation and Parks is now actively working on Phase III Crystal Springs Drive improvements to include signing and striping improvements to narrow the travel lanes and provide buffered Class II bicycle lanes and reduce the number of lanes as well as adding speed humps.”
While Kewitt confirmed that Phase I has been achieved, Phase II is where issues begin to arise. He said that only one of the six planned speed humps has been installed, and the radar signs, as far as he is aware, have not once changed location.
But Phase III has caused the most frustration. Kewitt said that construction on Crystal Springs Drive was to begin in August 2024 – he was even invited to a potential press conference to help “symbolically” start it. But suddenly, plans for the construction came to a halt, which Kewitt said has been the fault of “bureaucratic red tape.”
Rec and Parks said in a statement to SAFE that it aims to begin construction towards the end of spring or the beginning of summer provided that their plans are approved by the LA Department of Transportation (LADOT). However, some roads within parks like Crystal Springs Drive do not fall under LADOT’s jurisdiction, meaning Rec and Parks shouldn’t need their approval.
The state has set aside $4 million for improvements on that road, but with the long delay, Kewitt fears it may not be enough.
“We know that the cost of construction, especially now with the additional tariffs and things like that, is [becoming more expensive],” he said. “My real question is, when they do finally start construction, will they even be able to accomplish what they intended to in the first place because of this almost yearlong delay?”
The San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol reached out to Rec and Parks for comment, but they did not respond by press time.
Unsafe Roads for Cyclists
In general, Kewitt said that Southern California’s and LA’s infrastructure is not set up well enough to accommodate other road users. While he does admit there are cyclists who don’t follow the rules of the road, which gives drivers reason to dislike them, he added that the streets of LA, by and large, are engineered solely for cars, creating areas of conflict.
A 2023 report by the nonprofit LA County Bicycle Coalition found that in 2022, 77% of bicycle fatalities on county roads took place on multi-lane roads and 85% of fatalities occurred on roadways without a bike lane.
“I know that the average driver doesn’t understand some of the laws connected with the rights of cyclists,” said Kewitt, “and on top of that lack of infrastructure, you have a dangerous situation for those vulnerable road users.”
One of those laws, which went into effect in 2023, requires motor vehicles to move over one lane when passing cyclists instead of a distance of three feet. But Kewitt said it’s rarely followed – adding that even a good number of cyclists don’t know about this law.
Although there’s much work to be done to advocate for the rights of cyclists, SAFE’s priority at the moment is getting LA to start construction on Griffith Park as soon as possible.
“While all of this is cycling-centric, we’re concerned about the safety of all road users in Griffith Park – the families, kids and equestrians, as well as the cyclists,” Kewitt said. “The next step is to continue that pressure [on the city]. … I’ll believe that there’s a new construction date, when it’s actually happening.”