The upcoming reconstruction of Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills will take about a year and a half, according to a new report by WeHo by the Numbers, based on documents from the City of Beverly Hills. The project’s $24 million cost includes $2 million for planning and design, $2 million for construction management, $18 million for the planned construction work and a $2 million contingency for “unforeseen conditions” encountered during construction. That part of Santa Monica Boulevard is important for the access it offers from and to West Hollywood on the west side.
The work will happen on North Santa Monica Boulevard from Wilshire Boulevard to Doheny Drive. North Santa Monica is the big arterial with parkland along the north side. South Santa Monica — also known as “Little” Santa Monica — is the smaller parallel street that runs through the business district.
The city is replacing or upgrading the North Santa Monica roadway, drainage, sidewalks and street lights. The project will widen part of the street, but the number of travel lanes will stay the same. It will not add bike lanes, though that may be an option in the future.
The construction schedule has not been finalized. The work could begin late this year or early in 2017. It will be split into two sequential parts: the segment from Wilshire to Alpine Drive (near city hall) and Alpine Drive to Doheny. The city has not decided which part will go first.
The chart that accompanies this article is an example of what the construction schedule might look like. It assumes that work would start on the Wilshire-to-Alpine segment in January 2017, followed by the Alpine-to-Doheny segment.
The work on each street segment may be divided into four phases, A through D. They are color-coded in the chart to give a sense of the potential impact on traffic. During the green periods, left-turn lanes would be lost but four travel lanes — two in each direction — would be preserved. Those are the longest periods.
Yellow means the loss of one travel lane. There would be two lanes for westbound traffic and only one lane going east. Those two periods would last less than two months each (an estimated 35 to 39 working days).
There are also two red periods in this example, one for the Wilshire-to-Alpine segment and one for the Alpine-to-Doheny segment. During the red periods, two travel lanes would be lost. For the Alpine-to-Doheny segment, that probably means one lane of traffic in each direction for a month or so (an estimated 23 working days). For Wilshire-to-Alpine, it might mean both lanes used for westbound traffic for a month. Eastbound traffic would be diverted onto South Santa Monica or other alternatives.
The city knows that some drivers may cut through Beverly Hills residential neighborhoods to avoid the construction work. It plans to respond with neighborhood traffic management tools, such as speed lumps, traffic diverters, and peak-hour turn restrictions.
For thoughts about the traffic impact in West Hollywood, please see the WeHo by the Numbers report, How long will construction last on Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills?
I agree with Mike above. Elevado and Carmelita will be default residential streets…which means Norma Triangle (specifically Cynthia St) will become a bigger nightmare.
Robert Muniz, I do not know for sure, but I believe you may be mistaken about Metro owning the public parking garages along the south side of Santa Monica Boulevard. I attended most of the hearings during the BH City Council deliberations on this matter and those garages were often discussed, but I was given the impression that they were privately owned and not owned by the City or any other government agency. Please clarify if I am misunderstanding. Thanks!
Amazing, no traffic flow improvements but spending the money anyway. Why bother. They’ve fought doing the work for 20 years because the residents along the parkway don’t want the cars any closer to their homes. Those city parking garages are actually owned by Metro, they should be torn down and the street expanded if they don’t want to give up some of their precious green space (read land that keeps the undesirables further from my house).
Looks like Elevado and Carmelita will get a lot more traffic.
This will have a major impact on folks who take buses through/to Bev Hills. It will affect at least 5 major lines. I work in Century City and this will at least double my commute time – which is already an hour going home to WeHo, even with leaving work at 4:30. Of course, Metro doesn’t have the common sense (or consideration for passengers) to draw up a contingency plan to avoid the gridlock this will cause.
@ J Simmons
The subway dig runs under BH High School, not SMB. Courts have rejected Beverly Hills request to have the line routed under SMB. Besides, all subway construction (except around stations) is tunnel-bored, not cut/cover — little disruption to surface street.
Beverly Hills is 100% bass ackwards on this one, as usual. They are so worried about criminals on bikes. Cars are going to decline as a transportation mode in the coming years so we need to be forward thinking.
I echo the frustrations above. BH is really showing its true colors by not replacing the “parkland” with extra car and bike lanes. It’s a shame that the city can’t be overruled by the county or LA or some other governing body.
I agree with Lynn. Any major roadway reconstruction project that does not include bike lanes is selfish and short-sighted!
If I’m not mistaken, the line runs west on Wilshire to Sa.ta Monica Blvd. Then it “turns” onto SMB only after the Wilshire crossing. Thus I won’t go down smb from weho to Wilshire, so that median and extra lane idea is moot to the subway dig plan.
Just as West Hollywood’s reconstruction of the portion of Santa Monica Boulevard within its borders disrupted traffic and business for more than a year, we have no chice but to suffer through the work by Beverly Hills on its segment. As our street infrastructure ages, the reality is that there will be more resurfacing disruptions elsewhere.
Really? No bike lines? That’s a major thoroughfare for anyone travelling from West Hollywood to Beverly Hills and Westwood. Even though it’s very flat and direct (perfect for biking), it’s currently very dangerous for bikers. We shouldn’t be expanding capabilities for drivers, we should be thinking about alternate transportation options and relieving congestion.