This very new project created a 2.5-mile round-trip greenway in Canoga Park where the river officially begins. (Image via Los Angeles County]

This greening project between Hartland Street and Vanalden Avenue had its phase one groundbreaking in 2011. [Image via LA Creek Freak]

This project will add a small park, bike and walking paths, a greenway, and a big mural on an empty lot where the Aliso Creek meets the LA River.

27.9 acres of "aquatic, riparian and native" habitat that supports tons of wildlife in the Bull Creek Channel, located in the Sepulveda Flood Basin.

A new little park and bike path in Sherman Oaks.

This half-mile pedestrian and bike path opened in June, providing new access along the northern bank of the river from Studio City to Sherman Oaks. [Image by Carren Jao via KCET]

As part of its big Universal City overhaul, NBCUni will add a bike path and park to a section of the river between Griffith Park and Studio City.

This massive project includes two underground reservoirs and a power plant, which will be topped with a park after all the underground work is done. The construction on the first, eastern reservoir was planned to wrap late this year, and the whole thing was expected to finish sometime in 2017, at which point the park would start taking shape. The park phase is expected to take about two years.

Phase one of the three-part project at the riverwalk area is currently open. Part two will extend the path and include a pedestrian bridge; phase three is the bridge phase (see next point).

North Atwater Park opened in 2012; now the city is looking into expanding it onto the 25-acre site of the Recreation and Parks Department Central Service Yard.

This foot/bike/horse bridge is set to span from northern Atwater Village into Griffith Park; its suspension design is meant to be "iconic."

A wider bridge is in the works and it'll come with two miles of bike path, plus a bike underpass.

A stretch of the river north of Downtown opened for public recreation for the first time in 2013 and became a permanent summer rec zone this year.

In late 2013, the city finally started inching toward buying the long-sought-after Taylor Yard property, next to the existing Rio de Los Angeles State Park. The plan has been to turn the more-than-40-acre Yard into a huge public space with wetlands that'll improve water quality of the river overall.

Currently in use as a home for giant, outdoor art piece "The Unfinished," this Glassell Park riverfront space recently hosted the river's first public campout, complete with tents and s'mores. [Photo by Alexis Chanes]

Newly opened, this space functions as a pit stop for those along the River Path (bike repair supplies, popsicles, free water, restrooms), but also as a neighborhood hangout place with plenty of street parking. They've got coffee! [Photo by Grove Pashley]

Studio Pali Fekete Architects have designed this very orange pedestrian/bike bridge to span the river between Cypress Park and Elysian Valley at the Rio de Los Angeles State Park.

A public park is on the way to the grounds of this LAUSD school that sits on the river in Elysian Valley.

This plan to bridge the bike path gap between Riverside Drive and Downtown would put a path right down in the middle of the river. The LA City Council recently voted to have city engineers look into the possible route further.

The LA River Revitalization Corporation is working with architecture firm Perkins + Will on a rehab of the old Lincoln Heights Jail (plans at one point included a huge outdoor climbing wall).

This one-acre greenway in Cypress is now open to the public from 7 am to 7 pm daily, but don't forget: it's not technically a park; it's run by the Department of Sanitation as a water treatment facility. (There's a lot of river-water cleaning that happens here.) It has a little waterfall and a footbridge. [Image via Eastsider LA]

This site was planned as a public park and water treatment center, but money was scarce. Last we heard about the project in 2013, money was shifted from then up-in-the-air Taylor Yard to fund another phase of the park.

The river-adjacent Cornfield is getting a big makeover right now; the $1-billion revitalization plan recommended by the Army Corps of Engineers includes a terraced connection between the park and the river. The park's wetlands will be supported with water recycled from the river.

Planning has wrapped up for the Sixth Street Viaduct, and the latest HNTB/Michael Maltzandesign for the bridge includes 60-foot climbable arches and pedestrian ramps down into the river bottom, plus lots of open space.