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Transportation

A Faster Path to Safer Sidewalks

Requiring property owners to repair broken sidewalks when they sell could fix half of L.A.’s busted walkways by 2034 — a win for disability rights, and for everyone. 

A damaged sidewalk under repair in Los Angeles, which is afflicted with thousands of miles of cracked walkways.

A damaged sidewalk under repair in Los Angeles, which is afflicted with thousands of miles of cracked walkways.

Photographer: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

By
Donald Shoup

Los Angeles has 10,750 miles of sidewalks, and roughly 40% are broken. Repairs would appear to be on the way: In 2016, Los Angeles lost a class-action lawsuit initiated by disability rights advocates who alleged that the city’s inaccessible sidewalks violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. The settlement requires L.A. to spend $1.4 billion over 30 years to fix its sidewalks.

In November 2021, Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin released an audit that found progress has been agonizingly slow. Five years after starting the repair program, the city had repaired less than 1% of its sidewalks.