Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl unveiled a plan for spending more than $11 million on Westside traffic improvement, allocating $8 million to projects that should have near-term impact within the next two years and $3 million to longer-term planning.
Rosendahl, standing at the intersection of Lincoln and Venice boulevards on Thursday, December 7, said he would allocate money to install left-turn signals, improve signal synchronization, promote extending the Green Line into LAX and jump-start planning for a north-south mass transit line along Lincoln Boulevard. The money comes from accumulated traffic mitigation funds paid by real estate developers that can only be spent in Rosendahl’s coastal Los Angeles district.
The expenditures include short-term and long-term projects to relieve traffic congestion and promote mass transit, including:
An estimated $3 million for 32 left-turn signal improvements;
An estimated $5 million for 165 signal timing and synchronization enhancements and for 239 controller change-outs to give DOT better control & and vision of signals;
$1.25 million to fund the work of the Green Line Task Force, a multi-agency group looking at extending the Green Line to the airport, and for planning potential Green Line station locations;
$750,000 allocated for study and planning light rail along Lincoln Boulevard, $250,000 for studying and planning a connection between the Green Line and Phase Two of the Expo Line in Santa Monica and $50,000 allocated for additional parking along Lincoln Boulevard; and
$200,000 for bicycle and pedestrian transit plans.
Rosendahl also said he plans to spend $550,000 for boulevard masterplan studies of Sepulveda, Olympic, Pico, Santa Monica, and Venice boulevards. Masterplans, which include mass transit, land-use planning and streetscape studies, link transportation and planning to create livable boulevards.
Rosendahl said he was pleased to offer a combination of tangible, relatively quick improvements, such as the left-turn signals, while spending money to lay the foundation for the mass transit necessary for the Westside.
“We cannot continue to band-aid the traffic problems in this City,” Rosendahl said. “Our transportation infrastructure is a real problem that calls for vision, for bold thinking and long-range planning.”
Rosendahl stressed that the $11 million is on-hand, available money; the spending proposals will need formal Los Angeles City Council approval, but given the money can be spent only in the coastal district, little opposition is expected.Rosendahl was joined by community members and by Gloria Jeff, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, who said, “I am pleased to work with Councilmember Rosendahl on this plan to alleviate traffic on the Westside. The use of coastal transportation funds will go a long way toward reducing congestion at crowded intersections and will initiate long-range planning for needed mass transit.”
