Bill that could block L.A.'s Forest Lawn Drive safety plan awaits Gov. Newsom's signature

Senate Bill 194 would require a public hearing and approval from the Los Angeles City Council and the mayor before the city removes travel lanes on Forest Lawn Drive, where LAist reports more than 95 collisions since 2013.

Forest Lawn Drive, which provides access to Griffith Park in Los Angeles, has seen more than 95 collisions since 2013, four of them deadly. A bill that could block the city's plan to take lanes out of a one-mile stretch of that road passed both chambers of the California Legislature on Monday, August 31, 2026, and now sits with Gov. Gavin Newsom, LAist reported. Whether he signs it, and by when, isn't in the outlet's account.

What the bill would require

Senate Bill 194 covers several transportation matters. Language written for Los Angeles alone was added to it on the night of Friday, August 28, 2026, the outlet reported. Under that language, the city would need a public hearing, plus sign-off from the City Council and the mayor, before it reduced “the number of vehicle travel lanes on a street that provides the only access to two or more adjacent cemeteries.”

The added language doesn't forbid the lane reduction. It sets conditions on it. Two cemeteries sit along the stretch, and both have argued against the project.

The project on that mile

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the office of Councilmember Nithya Raman had planned to cut the number of travel lanes on a one-mile section of the road. Construction was scheduled to start earlier in the summer of 2026. Mayor Karen Bass paused the work in the spring of 2026, citing community opposition, including from the two cemeteries, according to LAist.

For the people who drive, ride and walk that mile, the practical question is what the city does instead. There's no settled answer yet.

Bass's office said in a statement that city departments have proposed alternatives, among them protected bike lanes and keeping the current number of driving lanes “with additional safety measures.” Asked what those measures would be, her office didn't respond, the outlet reported, and the transportation department hasn't answered its requests for more information.

What isn't known

LAist's report doesn't name the bill's author, doesn't give the vote counts in either chamber, and doesn't say how long the governor has to act on it. It also doesn't say whether the cemeteries or the mayor's office would back the lane reduction if the new approval steps were cleared. The road has become a contested piece of the mayoral campaign, the outlet reported — one street, one mile, and a state bill written around it.

Source: laist.com, retrieved September 2, 2026.