Mayor Karen Bass Monday unveiled the city’s first Capital Infrastructure Program to build and maintain roads, sidewalks, parks, curb ramps and other public buildings.
During a news conference Monday, Bass said every large city in the country has a Capital Infrastructure Program, but Los Angeles has never had one until now. The program will serve as a roadmap for the city to improve the way it maintains and builds new infrastructure, she said.
The program also outlines 10 recommendations to achieve that goal by updating city processes and the City Charter, implementing measures such as establishing a director of public works and giving the Bureau of Engineering the authority to lead the program. It also calls for more transparency on how and where the city addresses infrastructure needs with the use of data.
Through the program, Bass called for the construction of 29 related Olympic and Paralympic legacy projects, which aim to prepare the city for the 2028 Games. Sixteen of the projects are currently funded in the mayor’s proposed $14.89 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27.
Working alongside the City Council, the Mayor’s Office will look to secure long-term funding and planning for the proposed projects.
“I ran for mayor to break away from the city’s broken system that has left us with deteriorating streets and repair backlogs that piled up for years. With my Capital Infrastructure Program, we are forging a new path together to better design, maintain, and deliver — on time and budget — the infrastructure that Angelenos deserve,” Bass said in a statement.
The program calls for a complete list of all capital projects and initiatives for current and future year funding, and to improve communication about funding needed to complete, maintain, and build existing or new infrastructure projects.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson described the program as a “long-overdue modernization” of city services.
“While other cities have had infrastructure plans for a long time, few carry the weight and load that Los Angeles does,” Harris-Dawson said in a statement. “With over 7,500 miles of streets and enough sidewalk mileage to reach Paris and back, we are finally investing in the community’s collective backbone at the scale it requires.”
City Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez said the program can help transform how Los Angeles plans, invests and takes care of the services people rely on.