If you’re heading west from WeHo, or more important, east to WeHo, be prepared for detours on Santa Monica Boulevard once you cross the border into Beverly Hills.
Beginning Saturday traffic will be detoured on North Santa Monica Boulevard for about seven weeks. The detours are part of an 18-month reconstruction project that will have three phases requiring detours. It involves removing the roadway and replacing it with new asphalt between Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.
Starting Saturday traffic on North Santa Monica Boulevard (also known as “Big Santa Monica Boulevard” to distinguish it from the road just south of it, will be limited to two westbound lanes and eastbound traffic will be rerouted to South (Little) Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards starting at Century Park East, a tighter passthrough. That rerouting will last approximately three weeks.
Then, starting in late June for approximately four weeks, the work will shift to the northern portion of the roadway between Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive. During that time, two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane on North Santa Monica Boulevard will be open with occasional additional lane closures. The same traffic detours will be available.
The work and road closures are scheduled to shorten the overall duration of construction and keep the project’s western section on track for completion before the holiday shopping season.
Bus Stops – Buses will continue to travel westbound on North Santa Monica Blvd with stops at Camden Drive and Wilshire Boulevard. Buses travelling eastbound will be diverted onto South Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City. Buses will stop just west of Charleville Boulevard and continue on South Santa Monica Boulevard with a second stop west of Camden Drive. The eastbound buses will return to North Santa Monica Boulevard by way of Crescent Drive.
Turn Restrictions – In order to limit vehicles diverting into residential neighborhoods, left turns will be prohibited from eastbound Wilshire onto Trenton Drive.
Crosswalk – The cross walk at South Santa Monica Boulevard and Lasky Drive will be temporarily removed.
Updated information about the project will be available online at www.beverlyhills.org/smblvd.
Once completed, improvements to N. Santa Monica Boulevard will include:
— Rebuilt roadway with a rubberized asphalt surface to provide a smoother and quieter ride
— Upgraded drainage system
— New curbs and gutters
— Widening of the road on the south side between Cañon Drive and Wilshire Boulevard
— A standardized street-lighting system along the north side
— ADA compliant access upgrades
— New sidewalks
— Low impact drainage landscaping (grass swales) that comply with the urban water quality regulations
— Landscaping on the south side of the boulevard
@Randy. This according to the link above: “Construction Activity – Removal and replacement of asphalt and subgrade on the north side of the road for most of the week. Restriping will take place from July 5 at 8 p.m. to July 6 at 6 a.m. Please note that this striping is temporary. THE FINAL STRIPING WILL INCLUDE BIKE LANES (emphasis mine) on each side and will be done in mid-2018 when the entire project is complete.
@Randy. Bikes are for poor people. The City Council in B.H. doesn’t want bike lanes. They are worried they might have to allow for affordable bicycles which is worse than affordable housing. Better that they establish and “in-lieu” fee and people take the bus, that way no one suffers the embarrassment of seeing people riding around publicly in last years fashions.
And no bike lanes planned (even though there is more than enough space), because the City of Beverly Hills doesn’t care about anyone who is not affluent, or who wants to reduce their carbon footprint by not owning a vehicle.
Take Sunset!