“In the next year, there will be one million square feet of new commercial and residential development in our city. We must act now to begin to alleviate traffic congestion in our city,” D’Amico said in a press release.
“It’s no secret that traffic on the Westside is bad and now several major development projects that were approved by the City Council in the last ten-plus years are being built,” he said. “We need to be realistic about the state of traffic congestion in our city and the potential for it to become much, much worse while these developments are under construction.”
D’Amico said the number of gridlock tickets issued by city traffic enforcement increased from35 in January 2011 to 464 in June 2013. “Monthly averages per year show an equally alarming increase. Gridlock citations increased from an average of 43 per month (2011) to 256 per month (2013), a 595 percent increase.”
Under D’Amico’s proposal, the city would place traffic control officers between 4 and 7 p.m. weekdays at the intersections of Santa Monica Boulevard at Doheny, San Vicente, La Cienega, Crescent Heights and La Brea, and Sunset Boulevard at Doheny and La Cienega.
D’Amico said he would present the proposal at the Council’s Nov. 18 meeting.
How about a privately funded Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) network?! 🙂
To Marco Polo: It is people like you that think WeHo starts at La Cienega and ends at Doheney that make me sick. There is a hell of a lot more to WeHo than what some call “Boystown”. Start thinking about the entire city instead of your little bubble. If you looked at the development map that was posted a few days ago, you would see that most of the new development is going in mid-city and the east side.
PS–every time we see those traffic officers out on the streets, we’ll be reminded of your gross incompetence. Surely none of you can run again here!?!
Woody, Rudolf, and Nic are correct when they say we have been/are overbuilding. This is, however, no solution. Unfortunately there IS no solution now. Too many people have been here and WAY too many more are being invited. And the rich developers from everywhere else who never have to worry about navigating these streets are laughing all the way to the bank. Thank you councilors for ignoring us in order to collect your rewards from the developers. Well done.
By grossly overbuilding West Hollywood created the abysmal traffic mess that there is. Weho will continue to be one of the rings of hell to pay for its own greed.
This proposal puts the council in an odd position since the official assessment of the city is, that none of the major developments approved will significantly impact traffic. They already have and it’s getting worse. Sending traffic control officers into the affected intersections might ease congestion temporarily but would also be a testament of council’s failure to plan ahead and prevent gridlock. I support Mr. D’Amico’s proposal but we also need a longer term comprehensive vision.
Long term solution: SMB becomes a subterranean expressway from La Cienega to Doheny allowing for a beautiful car-free, pedestrian plaza like Barcelona’s ‘Las Ramblas.’ Exits could emerge at San Vicente N & S. Yes it would be a costly, messy disruptive project, but would ultimately become the crown jewel of a greener, world-class city. Just sayin…
@MarcoPolo If only. That will happen about the same time the subway also goes under SMB.
It’s about time! I hope the other council members will get onboard because they usually shoot down D’Amico’s ideas.
Thanks Todd, your correct and this effort would complement the $1M (county funded) stop light synchronization work that was passed on October 21st. This synchronization work will be installed at stoplights across town over the next year. Link below.
(http://weho.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=14061) (see item 2H)
This is a good idea and a first step toward a much needed solution to controlling & curtailing the nightmare traffic that is only getting worse. Those of us who saw the nightmare coming said so and those who created it didn’t care; they still don’t. The traffic has now backed up into our side streets and is also suffocating our residential neighborhoods. The number of developments currently being planned, and their sizes, are mindboggling. How many huge developments can be squeezed into such a small city and how many people can be shoehorned into such a tight space? It… Read more »
I applaud this proposal simply because traffic is so bad and many drivers are trapped in intersections when they thought there was plenty of time to cross. However, this doesn’t get to the root causes – traffic lights not synchronized with BH & LA, large, long-lasting construction projects that bring large, slow-moving trucks into the area, dramatically-increased density in both WeHo and Hollywood that greatly increase traffic and the lack of a good, regional public transportation system that might get people out of their cars. Unfortunately, it’s not just WeHo who never met a developer they didn’t like. There is… Read more »