Pedestrian-friendly updates to major thoroughfares in Playa del Rey have enraged many Westside drivers, who say the changes—meant to reduce traffic fatalities—are slowing traffic to a crawl.
The projects are part of a safe streets initiative in the neighborhood led by Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin, who reps the area. An explanation of the initiative on Bonin’s website says the changes will, “make streets in Playa del Rey safer by calming traffic.”
The updates include restriping on Vista del Mar, Culver Boulevard, Jefferson Boulevard, and Pershing Drive. All four streets will eventually be reduced to a single lane in each direction with a center lane for turning. Diagonal parking spaces will also be added to stretches of Pershing, Culver, and Vista del Mar, while new bike lanes will be added to Jefferson, Culver, and Pershing.
These changes have already gone into effect on Vista del Mar, where all parking has been moved to the west side of the road—ensuring beachgoers won’t have to sprint across traffic to access their vehicles.
Many drivers, however, aren’t pleased with the results. As KTLA reports, signs protesting the initiative have appeared along the roadway, while a Change.org petition calling upon city officials to reconsider the update has garnered over 2,000 signatures.
The petition argues that by slowing down traffic, the restriped roadways will discourage tourism and cause property values to “plummet.” It also acknowledges that the project will likely make streets safer, “as all the traffic will be moving at a snail's pace.”
According to collision data provided by Bonin’s office, 210 traffic collisions on Vista del Mar resulted in injuries between 2003 and 2016. Five collisions resulted in fatalities.
David Graham-Caso, a spokesperson for Bonin, tells Curbed that the response from constituents hasn’t been all bad.
He says comments “have ranged broadly from people in Playa del Rey who are thankful that their neighborhood will be safer, to residents of other cities in the region, who have expressed frustration that they will no longer be able to use neighborhood streets in lower Playa del Rey as a high-speed freeway.”
Residents won’t have to wait long for more roadway updates. Los Angeles Department of Transportation officials will begin restriping the remaining streets once resurfacing is complete on Pershing Drive.
- How Los Angeles plans to make its streets less deadly [Curbed LA]
- Traffic deaths in LA soared last year [Curbed LA]
- Santa Monica councilmember wants to appoint a safe streets ‘czar’ [Curbed LA]
Comments
Instead of touting Bonin’s line let’s be real here. This isn’t all about pedestrian safety it’s about a group of PDR residents that don’t want traffic going though their town.
There seems to be plenty of options that improve pedestrian safety without creating unnecessary gridlock, remove parking all together from vista del mar there’s plenty of under utilized parking lots the the county runs. There’s also a a bunch of vacant land owned by the airport to the east that could serve parking with pedestrain bridge to the beach for safety.
As far as Culver Dr goes there’s already a dedicated bike lane/pedestrian path that exists just to the north.
Graham-Caso disdain for any negative criticism just show’s a the lack of respect for people’s time, This route has always a major North-South route because of the features of the area (LAX, Marina Del Rey , Ballona Creek) that force limited North-South routes.
By John Norrman on 06.07.17 1:41pm
This issue needs to continue to get coverage and attention. It is, as John said, ALL about the Playa Del Rey homeowners who bought houses along a major north-south artery (it’s been this way for at least three decades) and want no one in El Segundo or greater South Bay to be able to get to Santa Monica in under 40 minutes or (vice versa) except for them. I just hope that commuters who deal with the natural collateral damage of this on Lincoln know where to place their anger with the hundreds of extra cars that we’re going to be sending through already over-congested streets.
By JBSW on 06.07.17 1:55pm
They did the same thing on Venice Blvd in Mar Vista and now it’s gridlock. It takes nearly 15 minutes to go 1 mile.
By LADude on 06.07.17 2:16pm
Agreed. This is a terrible idea. Hopefully people who use apps like Waze start driving through the residential streets in PDR as a result.
By SocalChill on 06.07.17 2:34pm
All this is a part of Mayor Stupid’s idea that we should get out of our cars and use public transit. All but the elected leaders (aka crooks) in City Hall. We need to get Mayor Stupid out of his driven vehicle and put him behind the wheel of an imported mass-produced sedan and make him drive these streets reduced to one lane.
By JustAPlayer on 06.07.17 3:06pm
Also, the greatest contributor to climate change is automobiles and the worse thing we can do is have people sitting in gridlock. It’s just plain stupid.
By LADude on 06.07.17 3:31pm
Good point.
Lucky there are public transit options available. Ditch the cars altogether.
By Matthew J58 on 06.08.17 6:41am
What public transit options? Go to the metro website and look at how long it takes to go from South Bay to West LA.
By LADude on 06.08.17 12:13pm
Why mess with Pershing Dr?! Lovely 55 MPH speed limit, and now no passing lanes to get around the confused Priuses that always go 35.
By MMVic on 06.07.17 4:05pm
I feel sorry for Playa del Rey. It’s bad enough they are subjected to LAUSD. Enjoy your gridlock. BTW, when is some effort and money going to be used to beautify that Culver Blvd/Vista del Mar intersection? That area is honestly the armpit of all the beach communities. Looks the same it did 25 years ago…and that’s not a good thing. With some progressive thinking it would be an attraction.
It’s been said before but there’s already enough parking spots on the beach that the county runs at Dockweiler. Something like 1500 spots nobody ever uses. Parking on Vista del Mar should be eliminated. Flex lanes should be a consideration to get people to and from the 90 Fwy. And pedestrian bridges would make the area a safer for the locals. I mean Playa del Rey residents will be affected just as much as surrounding cities with this boneheaded road design.
Sorry about the armpit comment
By swany65 on 06.07.17 4:18pm
PDR has seen some modest changes, and it’s very much more funky cool than not, as the alternative is something like MDR with its Starbucks, CVS, and Ralphs (One Ralphs just isn’t enough, need two Ralphs within 4 blocks of each other!). Or progress in Venice like Abbot Kinney with rent that has kicked out nearly every local tenant for mostly bland corporate entities. Maybe looking like it did 25 years ago is not a bad thing when you consider the alternatives in neighboring MDR and Venice.
And nice stab at LAUSD, an easy target. Do you know students that attend Paseo Del Rey or Loyola Elementary schools here? If you did, you might have a different perspective.
By HowULikeMeNow on 06.08.17 5:14pm
BTW, why does Vista del Mar Park still exist?
By swany65 on 06.07.17 4:21pm
The sicko LACity council wants us out our cars and on a bike or bus so we can be late for work, Dr apt, pick up our groceries and put in our bike trunk, and be late for our own funeral when we are struck and killed making that left turn on the top of that bike we need to get around town upon!!
By beachwooddude on 06.07.17 9:43pm
gridlock is pretty bad all over the city during commute peak hours which now range from about 7 am to 9:30 am and 3 pm to 8 pm. it takes forever to get anything done when you factor in travel time.
By LAoneWay on 06.08.17 6:40am
The reporting in the article is grossly skewed towards incorrect facts. PLEASE BOYCOTT PLAYA BUSINESSES TO SHOW THAT IF THEY DON’T WANT OTHER RESIDENTS IN THEIR TOWN THEN WE WON’T PATRON THERE!!!!!
FACT: There are MANY PDR residents who are also very displeased about the changes turning their roads into parking lots. Imagine if someone has an emergency and needs quick transportation to the hospital?? Also, that specific route is a tsunami escape route so in many respects this is LESS SAFE. Including the fact that people now drive in bike lanes and it has not stopped illegal u-turns.
FACT: There are many other ways to make streets more safe. By the DOTs own admission, they explored NO other alternatives (traffic lights, speed bumps etc) and have NO metrics for success of this projects.
FACT: All of the accidents that happened on Vista del Mar occurred around midnight, including ILLEGAL crossings etc. Again, no alternatives were explored here like crosswalks, bridges etc etc.
By PlayaDelReyRuinsMyDay on 06.09.17 10:22am
This is a ridiculous, poorly conceived moved. Driving is not against the law and drivers should not be punished because of Bonin’s mindless political convictions. If you don’t want people to drive, give them a reasonable alternative. Don’t force them to spend an unnecessary extra hour on the road every day.
By Misocainea on 06.09.17 4:41pm
To the 140 or so residents of Playa Del Rey who were polled in the survey that the city of Los Angeles used to support their decision to initiate the traffic changes through Play Del Rey, "be careful what you wish for."
Those same insane traffic mediation steps that have cut traffic lanes through almost every single commercial traffic artery through Playa Del Rey, which has slowed traffic to a standstill for anyone trying to travel through the area, are a double edged sword. Not only is it making the commute insanely more difficult for the thousands of motorists who use the roads to commute but it will make it just as difficult for the residents of Playa Del Rey to get in and out of their own house.
Right now you have an easy commute to the South Bay and to the West Side of Los Angeles and points beyond. For years Playa Del Rey residents have enjoyed living in an isolated beach community with easy access to the freeway networks through the Marina Freeway. The airport through Westchester Parkway, and the 105 freeway through Imperial. Bye bye easy access. Now when you have to get somewhere quickly you’ll be stuck in traffic just like the commuters are. The difference is that commuters who live or work in places that are connected by driving through Playa Del Rey can use different routes to get to where they’re going but what are the residents of Playa Del Rey going to do to avoid this gridlock? Good luck with that.
When you decide to live in Southern California like millions of people do because of the great weather and all of the great attractions that we have here you have to live with the density and the traffic. I you don’t like that then move somewhere else. One thing that is not going to help ease traffic in the most trafficked area in the world is cut down on the number of lanes that cars have to drive on. This is simple math. You can’t cut driving times and congestion by decreasing the number of streets and lanes where cars drive on.
Good luck Playa Del Rey residents. You’re going to need it. And when you’re stuck in traffic for hours waiting to get ot work or the doctor or anywhere else that you have to go just remember that this is what you wanted and that Mike Bonin and the rest of the politicians who agreed with this in Los Angeles thought that this was a "good idea."
By Mr. Woodcock on 06.10.17 11:25am
Two words: Sour grapes.
By HowULikeMeNow on 06.10.17 11:38am
210 traffic collisions in 13 years. That’s not even worth noting. This is a joke.
By LADude on 06.12.17 11:42am
There is nothing safer about this for pedestrians. They hang out now with a false sense of safety on Vista Del Mar. Drunk drivers are still out there, people on opioids and drugs, people texting. They were safer before. I’ve also seen more jay walkers in the business area of playa. The changes are giving people a false sense of security. On Culver taking up an entire line of traffic for a bike lane? Just wish we didnt have to be part of this experiment into stupidity
By abigailhenley on 06.16.17 9:08pm
Hey, irate commuters, you could consider actually living closer to where you work. Or, maybe take public transportation. I take a bus to work downtown everyday from the south bay.
By sturm60514 on 06.28.17 4:18pm