Pico Boulevard Safety and Mobility Plan Project
Summary
SCH Number
2026060624
Public Agency
City of Los Angeles
Document Title
Pico Boulevard Safety and Mobility Plan Project
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
6/12/2026
Document Description
The proposed project primarily consists of implementing protected bike lanes along an approximately 3.5 mile segment of Pico Boulevard between Crenshaw Boulevard and Figueroa Street, including the reallocation of travel lanes and removal of some on-street parking to create the necessary space for the bicycle facility. The project would enhance safety, accessibility, and multimodal connectivity along the corridor, which serves as a key commercial, cultural, and transportation route for the community. It would close a critical gap in the active transportation network by connecting existing bike lanes on Figueroa Street to existing bike lanes on Venice Boulevard via existing bike lanes on 4th Avenue. The project also includes some sidewalk repair, curb ramp upgrades, roadway striping, and signal modifications throughout the corridor limits, and the addition of Toucan traffic signals at Pico/Manhattan and Pico/New Hampshire.
Contact Information
Name
Severin Martinez
Agency Name
Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT)
Job Title
Supervising Transportation Planner
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
Los Angeles
Counties
Los Angeles
Regions
Citywide, Southern California
Cross Streets
Pico Boulevard between Crenshaw Boulevard and Figueroa Street
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
14 CCR Sec. 15301 (c); CCR Sec. 15304 (h)
Reasons for Exemption
A project qualifies for a Class 1, Category 3 categorical exemption under City CEQA Guidelines and a Class 1(c) categorical exemption under State CEQA Guidelines (14 CCR Sec. 15301 (c)) if it consists of operation, repair, maintenance, or minor alteration of existing streets, sidewalks, and gutters involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that previously existing; and does not involve the removal of a scenic resource (the City CEQA Guidelines further explain that a scenic resource is defined as “including but not limited to a stand of trees, a rock outcropping or an historic building.”) The project qualifies for these categorical exemptions because it consists of the operation and alteration of an existing street, Pico Boulevard; does not involve an expansion of use beyond those previous existing, as the project installs bike lanes and would accommodate any projected growth already analyzed and approved from the Bicycle Lane Network in Mobility Plan 2035 and the capacity from the existing four-lane roadway would be accommodated by a two-lane roadway and center-turn lanes; and does not involve the removal of a scenic resource, including no removal of trees, rock outcroppings, or historic buildings (see below on Consideration of Potential Exceptions to use of a Categorical Exemption, Aesthetics and Scenic Highway sections).
Further, a project more specifically qualifies for a Class 1, Category 15 categorical exemption under the City CEQA Guidelines if it consists of the installation of traffic signs, signals and pavement markings, including traffic channelization using paint and raised pavement markers; and a Class 1, Category 20 categorical exemption if it consists of the modernization of an existing highway or street by construction of improvements and adding auxiliary lanes for localized purposes such as turning, except where extensive tree removal will be involved (with both Class 1, Category 15 and Class 1, Category 20 including the same limitations as the above Class 1 categorical exemptions of negligible or no expansion of use and not involving the removal of a scenic resource). The project qualifies for these categorical exemptions because it consists of the installation of pavement markings for Class IV bike lanes and the conversion of the four-lane roadway to a two-lane roadway with center-turn lanes; and the modernization of Pico Boulevard, an existing street, by the construction of improvements such as the Class IV bike lane and center-turn lanes for the project’s two-lane roadway with no tree removals.
Finally, a project qualifies for a Class 4, Category 13 categorical exemption under City CEQA Guidelines and a Class 4(h) categorical exemption under State CEQA Guidelines (CCR Sec. 15304 (h)) if it consists of the creation of bicycle lanes on existing rights-of-way, which do not involve removal of healthy, mature, scenic trees except for forestry and agricultural purposes. The project qualifies for this exemption because it is creating a Class IV bike lane and does not involve the removal of any trees.
County Clerk
Los Angeles
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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