It’s a time of the year to look back at some of the bigger stories of 2025. This is not a comprehensive year in review, but just some of the salient highlights and lowlights.
Facism Joins Racism in ICE Attacks on Southern California
There’s no issue that impacted streets, access, public spaces, Angelenos, freedoms more than the Trump administration’s ongoing ICE terror. ICE is killing/injuring people, racially profiling, shattering families, disrupting communities, and more. Resistance – from communities and leaders, informal and formal – is inspiring and is making a difference. But ICE terror is real and ongoing.
Climate Disruption Ravages Southern California
If federal terror wasn’t enough, the beleaguered climate also assaulted the southland. Ratcheted ever upward by tailpipe emissions (worsened by Metro, Caltrans, and L.A. always eager to invest in encouraging more and more and more driving), a fevered climate spawned record heat in 2025. Locally this manifested as record wildfire devastation, followed by record heat waves and intense record rains.
Will local leaders start to take climate disruption seriously?
New Metro Light Rail Openings
This year Metro opened two important new light rail projects, expanding the rail system’s reach and connectivity.
On June 6, Metro opened its new LAX station. The LAX Metro Transit Center serves the K and C Lines, and numerous bus lines. While it completed a key leg of the Metro light rail network, it does not quite connect really well to LAX itself just yet. Rail riders will get to LAX terminals via the delayed LAX people mover, now anticipated to open in late 2026.
On September 19, Metro opened its new A Line extension to Pomona. The project added nine new miles of light rail, with four new stations: Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, and Pomona. The A Line, already the world’s longest light rail line, is now 57.6 miles – all the way from Pomona through Pasadena and downtown L.A. to Long Beach.
Automated Bus Lane Enforcement Debuts
Metro has been working with cities, mostly L.A. City, to expand a growing network of bus-only lanes… which are great… when drivers are not parked in them.
After state, county, and city approvals, Metro started using on-bus cameras to automatically ticket scofflaw drivers parked in bus lanes. In November 2024, buses in the city of L.A. began issuing warning tickets; in February 2025, actual expensive citation ticketing went live. The L.A. City program expanded in March. Since then Culver City, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica have joined the club.
If you drive and you want to avoid a $293 ticket, never block a bus lane or a bus stop!
(Disclosure: Metro bus lane camera contractor Hayden AI is an advertiser with Streetsblog. Hayden AI was not consulted on this post.)
New Bikeways
On May 22, Metro opened its long awaited Rail-to-Rail bike/walk path project. The 5.5-mile landscaped path facility extends from the Slauson A Line Station to the Fairview Heights K Line Station.
South El Monte opened its extension of the Merced Avenue Greenway on March 1. A year ago, L.A. County opened its Vincent Community Bikeway project which features a combination of creek path and on-street protected bike lanes.
New L.A. City bikeway mileage has been hampered by the city’s astonishing attempts to kneecap Measure HLA.
CicLAvia Turns 15 – Open Streets All Over
2025 saw Open Streets events from City Terrace to Bell to Glendale to El Monte… and beyond? But none of them quite rival the draw of the annual Heart of Los Angeles CicLAvia route in central L.A. The first CicLAvia took place there on 10/10/10, so this October marked its 15th anniversary.
Next up: Streetsblog’s annual predictions for the year to come.
