Just downriver from the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge, a steel span with a bright red streak down its sides crosses the Los Angeles River near Glendale Boulevard and Ferncroft Road. It sits on five concrete piers that once carried the tracks of the Red Car streetcars. No cars are allowed on it, and no trains either. It cost $4 million.
The Red Car Pedestrian Bridge had one job when it opened. A 2020 statement from the council office said it would carry walkers and cyclists "as we embark on a three year seismic retrofit and historic restoration of the Glendale-Hyperion Complex of Bridges." The Eastsider reported that statement at the time. The retrofit itself didn't start until February 2026. For about six years, the people crossing between Silver Lake and Atwater Village had a detour with nothing to route them around.
That order of events explains most of what has happened at the river this year. The project started with its workaround, and its first season of real construction went mostly into work that's hard to see from Hyperion Avenue.
A Detour, Then a Long Wait
PBS SoCal reports that the footbridge opened to the public in January 2020. The city's Bureau of Engineering project page lists it as completed in 2021. Under either date, the gap between detour and construction was long:
- June 9, 2015. The City Council votes 11–0 on a design for the main bridge, as Streetsblog LA reported that day.
- 2020. The Red Car bridge opens and is described as the detour for a three-year retrofit.
- 2025. The project comes close to losing its city funding during budget cuts.
- November 2025. Stacy and Witbeck, Inc. is selected as contractor.
- February 2026. Preliminary work begins.
- April 30, 2026. A ceremonial ribbon-cutting marks the start of construction.
- October 15, 2026. The first in-river work season closes.
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, whose district includes Atwater Village and part of Silver Lake, said at the April ceremony that the bridge had come up so often at neighborhood councils and improvement associations that "it always felt like it just simply was not going to happen." The Eastsider's account of the ceremony puts the planning at nearly 20 years.
The footbridge didn't come through the wait unchanged either. Red Car River Park, the small pocket park at the start of Atwater's Glendale Boulevard commercial strip, was reported permanently closed in 2020 as part of the bridge complex work.
Why the First Season Was Hard to See
Drivers crossing Hyperion this summer may have wondered where the construction was. In March, Council District 13 told residents that early work would focus on preparation below the bridge, so changes above the deck might not show right away.
Below the bridge, the main task was getting approval to work in the water at all. In a June 12, 2026 account on the contractor's site, Stacy Witbeck project engineer Jared Lynch wrote that the hardest part to reach was the water diversion plan. Any work in the Los Angeles River needs an approved plan for managing flow during construction, and securing that approval "became a top project priority and required close coordination across multiple agencies." Lynch credited nearby project teams, who had already worked in the same stretch of river and shared their approved permits and diversion approach.
Utilities were the second track. The contractor was coordinating the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Caltrans, AT&T, and sewer and manhole infrastructure all at once, and each has its own schedule and approval chain.
All of this runs on a fixed calendar. The Bureau of Engineering says in-river construction happens mainly during the dry season, April 15 to October 15. Preliminary work began in February, and the ceremonial start came two weeks after the dry season opened. So the first season was largely spent getting permission and lining up utilities before work could go deeper into the river. That season ends five days from now.
The city hasn't said publicly what comes after October 15. The project page states that traffic control will happen in phases, that details will be posted before each phase, and that "at no time will the bridge be fully closed to traffic." It also links a form for project updates and meeting notices.
What the Finished Crossing Is Supposed to Hold
The work is slow partly because the structure is five bridges, not one. The Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct Complex, completed in 1929 and designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, crosses I-5, the river and Riverside Drive. The project also covers the Waverly Drive bridge over Hyperion Avenue, which Silver Lake drivers pass under without much thought.
| Today | When the project is finished |
|---|---|
| Narrow sidewalks, no bike lanes | Bike lanes on both sides of Hyperion and an ADA-compliant pedestrian shoulder on the west side |
| Glendale Boulevard bridges at their current width | Widened to fit pedestrian shoulders |
| Drivers leaving northbound I-5 cross several lanes to make a U-turn | Realigned off-ramp with direct eastbound and westbound access on Glendale Boulevard |
| Getting from the bridge to the river path is indirect | Direct connections to the LA River Way and a northbound Glendale Boulevard bikeway ramp |
| Light posts stripped of copper wire | Lighting repaired, historic fixtures stored by the city |
Council District 13 puts the new walking area at more than 17,000 square feet of sidewalk. Preservation sets the limits on all of it. The contractor's plan keeps the pylons along the corridor and the arches over I-5, and removes only as much concrete as the seismic work requires.
The pedestrian layout is the newest chapter in an old argument. In 2015 the Council approved four vehicle lanes, two bike lanes and a single sidewalk on Hyperion. Pedestrian and cycling advocates had pushed to keep both sidewalks by removing a vehicle lane, and Atwater representatives opposed that over traffic and access concerns. The current descriptions call for a west-side pedestrian shoulder on Hyperion plus shoulders on the widened Glendale Boulevard spans. That leaves the Red Car bridge as the protected crossing on foot until the new walkways open.
The Price Moved More Than the Concrete
The reported cost has changed more than once while the bridge waited, first rising sharply and then settling somewhat lower. An earlier Bureau of Engineering report, covered by The Eastsider, put the estimate at $250 million, up from a figure once around $80 million. That report said the city's own share would be $17.7 million. At the April 2026 ceremony, the Eastsider reported a $229 million project with the city contributing $17 million, the state $11 million, and federal money covering most of the rest. The Daily News described a $208 million plan the next day, funded mainly through Caltrans, including federal highway funds.
The city's share has stayed close to $17 million across those reports. That fixed amount is what was at risk in the 2025 budget cycle, and Council District 13 says community partners helped protect it. Keeping the bridge open the whole time also adds to the schedule. Project manager Andrew Asfour told the Council's Public Works Committee that construction takes longer because traffic keeps flowing throughout, and the same report named the Red Car bridge as the temporary pedestrian detour.
A Centennial in the Middle of the Work
Council District 13 notes that the bridge turns 100 in 2029. Stacy Witbeck expects to finish in early 2031, and the Bureau of Engineering gives a range of five to six years. That means the anniversary will fall in the middle of the work, probably with phased lane controls on the deck. The arches over I-5 will still be standing, since keeping them is part of the plan.
Councilmember Nithya Raman said at the groundbreaking that the work would "improve the connection between Los Feliz and Atwater Village and protect that link for another century and beyond." Silver Lake Neighborhood Council member Eric Brightwell told the Daily News that the bridge "is between neighborhoods but doesn't feel like it belongs to any," and that he looks forward "to being able to bike to Nico's, Indochine Vien, and beyond." Until then, the protected way to Atwater on foot or by bike is the red-striped span on the old streetcar piers near Ferncroft Road, as it has been since 2020.
Infrastructure timelines like this one affect how the Silver Lake and Atwater blocks near the river will feel to live on over the next five years. Jonah Wilson Partners follows those projects closely. If you're weighing a home near Hyperion or Glendale Boulevard and want to talk through what the construction calendar means for it, contact us.
