If you have ever tripped on a broken slab in Los Angeles or pushed a stroller into the street because there was simply no sidewalk, you are not imagining things. LA really does have a sidewalk problem, and it did not happen by accident. The story of how we got here says a lot about how the city grew, who the city prioritized, and how long it can take to fix something as basic as a strip of concrete.

Before Sidewalks Were A Big Deal

In the early days of Los Angeles, the focus was not on walking. The city was a collection of small neighborhoods connected by dirt roads, then by streetcars and early boulevards. Sidewalks were built in bits and pieces around busy commercial areas, train stations, and early streetcar stops, but many residential streets simply did not have them.

That pattern never fully went away. LA grew quickly, especially after World War II, and the priority was cars and new housing rather than consistent, walkable infrastructure. A lot of neighborhoods were built with the assumption that everyone would drive. That is why you can still turn a corner in 2025 and go from a nice, wide sidewalk to nothing but dirt or grass.

Who Owns The Sidewalk, Anyway?

This is the part that surprises most people. In California, a law from 1911 made the adjacent property owner responsible for building and maintaining the sidewalk next to their property. Cities, including Los Angeles, followed that rule. If you wanted a sidewalk in front of your house, you or your neighbors often had to pay for it. If it cracked, technically it was your problem, not the city’s.

That setup created exactly what you would expect: a patchwork. Wealthier areas or commercial corridors were more likely to pour and fix sidewalks. Other blocks did not bother, or they delayed repairs as long as possible. Over time, LA ended up with a citywide sidewalk network that depended heavily on how much money people on a given street had, and how much they cared about walkability.

The Big Shift In The 1970s

In the 1970s, things got more complicated. Federal money became available to help cities repair sidewalks. Los Angeles made a major decision. Instead of telling homeowners they were on the hook for repairs, the city took responsibility for fixing many sidewalks, especially those damaged by city trees. For a few years, the arrangement looked great. Sidewalks were being repaired without homeowners footing the bill.

Then the federal funds ran out. LA was left with a huge repair obligation and no dedicated pot of money to pay for it. A few years later, in 1978, Proposition 13 sharply limited property tax revenue, which made it even harder for local governments to fund basic maintenance. The result was a slow, quiet crisis. Sidewalks kept aging, tree roots kept pushing up slabs, and the city did not have a solid plan or budget to keep up.

Tree Roots, Cracks, And Miles Of Damage

Fast forward to the 2000s and 2010s, and the scale of the problem became impossible to ignore. There are an estimated 9,000 to 11,000 miles of sidewalks in the City of Los Angeles. Roughly 40 percent of that network, somewhere around 4,600 to 5,000 miles, is considered damaged or in need of serious repair.

One of the main villains is also one of the things residents love: street trees. City and developer planted trees in the parkway strips between the curb and sidewalk. Those roots did what roots do. They went looking for water and space, and they pushed up the concrete. Some estimates suggest that the vast majority of sidewalk damage, in some areas up to 90 percent, is tied to tree roots.

Meanwhile, complaints piled up. A Los Angeles Times analysis found that a large share of sidewalk damage complaints went unresolved, even as injuries and trip and fall claims kept costing the city money.

The ADA Lawsuit That Forced The Issue

For many Angelenos, bad sidewalks are annoying. For people who use wheelchairs, walkers, or scooters, they can be completely disabling. In 2010, disability rights groups and individuals with mobility disabilities filed a class action lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. The case, known as Willits v. City of Los Angeles, argued that the city had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and related laws by failing to provide accessible sidewalks, curb ramps, and crossings.

The lawsuit covered an enormous class, estimated at around 280,000 people with mobility disabilities who could not safely or reliably use city sidewalks. After several years of legal work, the city agreed to a massive settlement. In 2015 and 2016, Los Angeles committed to spending more than 1.3 billion dollars over 30 years, roughly 31 million dollars per year, to repair sidewalks, install and fix curb ramps, and remove access barriers throughout the pedestrian network.

This became the City’s formal Sidewalk Repair Program. On paper, it was a big win. For the first time, LA had a long term plan and a budget line dedicated to fixing sidewalks, not just patching them when someone got hurt and filed a claim.

How Is It Going So Far?

Even with a billion dollar settlement, the reality on the ground moves slowly. The scale of the problem is huge. If you have 9,000 to 11,000 miles of sidewalk and roughly half of it is in bad shape, you are not catching up quickly by repairing a few miles a year.

City audits and reporting in recent years have not been gentle. One analysis showed that from 2016 to early 2022, the sidewalk program only fully repaired about 120 miles of sidewalk, even though the city estimated nearly 5,000 miles were in need of replacement.

To be fair, the work is expensive and complicated. Crews are not just pouring new concrete. They are also dealing with tree roots, curb ramps, utility conflicts, driveways, and ADA standards. And each location has to be prioritized. The city has created scoring systems that try to balance factors like disability access requests, proximity to city facilities, severity of damage, and whether the segment is on a “high injury” network where many crashes occur.

Recent leadership has talked about overhauling how the city handles street and sidewalk work, but even the best system cannot erase decades of underinvestment overnight. The backlog is measured in thousands of miles, not a few blocks.

Who Is Responsible Today?

Responsibility is still split. Under state law and local rules, the property owner is technically on the hook for maintaining the sidewalk next to their parcel. At the same time, city policies and the Willits settlement have the city taking the lead on many repairs, especially those related to accessibility and city planted trees.

This shared responsibility can create confusion. If someone gets hurt, both the city and the adjacent owner can end up in the legal discussion, depending on the circumstances. For a typical resident, it just feels like nobody is clearly in charge.

What It Feels Like On The Ground

All of this policy history shows up in very simple, everyday ways:

• Parents pushing strollers or wheelchairs into the bike lane because the sidewalk is too broken or missing.
• Delivery drivers and couriers carrying boxes over raised slabs, tree roots, and missing curb cuts.
• People using mobility devices having to take long detours around a single impassable intersection corner.
• Blocks where one property has a brand new, smooth sidewalk, and the next one is buckled and dangerous.

The sidewalk network is public space, but its condition is shaped by a century of private responsibility, short term funding, and a long stretch where nobody had a solid plan. If you walk across several neighborhoods in Los Angeles, you basically get a visual map of the city’s priorities over time.

What Sidewalks Say About Los Angeles

Los Angeles is known for cars and freeways, not for walking, yet sidewalks quietly tell a parallel story about the city.

They show how LA’s growth was uneven. Some areas got early investment, trees, lighting, and smooth concrete. Others got the bare minimum. They also reflect decisions that made driving easier and faster while leaving walking and rolling as an afterthought.

Now the city is in a different moment. There is more talk about climate, public transit, biking, and “complete streets” that work for people who are not in cars. Safe, continuous sidewalks are a basic part of that. Sidewalks connect bus stops to workplaces, connect homes to schools, and let older residents stay independent longer.

As LA prepares to host global events and tries to present itself as a modern, accessible city, the pressure to fix the sidewalk system will only increase. It is hard to call yourself world class when someone in a wheelchair cannot safely travel a few blocks to a park or clinic.

Why This Matters For Daily Life

A smooth, continuous sidewalk is one of those things that people ignore when it works and curse when it fails. For residents, it means fewer falls, easier walks with kids or pets, and more options to leave the car at home. For people with disabilities, it can mean the difference between independence and isolation.

For businesses, including delivery companies, mail carriers, and courier services, it shapes how quickly and safely people can reach front doors, loading zones, and offices. Every broken slab and missing curb ramp slows someone down or forces them into the street.

In other words, sidewalks are not just decorative strips of concrete. They are part of how a city respects people’s time, safety, and mobility.

Next Time You Walk In LA

The next time you are walking in Los Angeles and you notice the sidewalk suddenly rise up, disappear, or turn perfect and new, you are looking at more than a construction job. You are seeing a century of policy choices layered in concrete, tree roots, budget cuts, lawsuits, and slow repairs.

It may just look like a crack in the sidewalk, but in LA, that crack has a long story behind it.