The City of West Hollywood has begun the community feedback phase of the Willoughby, Kings, Vista/Gardner Greenway Project. The Project was identified in the City’s 2017 Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan as a priority project. The Project’s goals include minimizing neighborhood cut-through traffic, slowing down vehicular traffic, reducing traffic incidents, providing safer pedestrian/bicycle environment, and providing a contiguous east-west bicycle route within the City of West Hollywood.
Within the study area, Willoughby Avenue, N. Vista Street and N. Gardner Street are shared by the City of West Hollywood and the City of Los Angeles. The Project was initiated in March 2019; in-person community demonstration projects highlighting a suite of potential treatments were delayed by the social distancing requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pilot phase of the Willoughby Greenway Project began in April 2022 and consists of temporary traffic improvement strategies, which have been installed along Willoughby Avenue – a traffic diverter at Ogden/Willoughby, a mini-roundabout at Curson/Willoughby, and corner curb extensions at Spaulding/Willoughby – will remain in place through August 2022 as the community evaluates the improvements. The City of Los Angeles is scheduled to enhance the temporary traffic diverter at Ogden/Willoughby in the coming weeks to ensure it operates effectively for the duration of the pilot.
The City is hosting a virtual Information Session on Saturday, June 11, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. which is free and open to the public. Staff will provide a brief presentation regarding the greenway project; however, the primary purpose of this meeting will be to answer any questions and receive initial feedback on the temporary installations thus far. Interested parties may click here to access the Zoom meeting link or dial-in via phone at (669) 900- 6833 with the following Meeting ID: 852 8458 5396. Community Workshops are also being planned for late August 2022.
The City is providing a number of ways that community members can provide feedback (via text message, via an app accessed with QR codes at the sites of the temporary installations, or via a web submission form). More information on these feedback opportunities, a brief animated video about the project, and RSVP links for upcoming virtual community meetings are available at www.weho.org/city-government/city-departments/planning-and-development-services/long-range-planning/mobility-planning/willoughby-vista-gardner-street-design-project.
For more information about the Willoughby, Kings, Vista/Gardner Greenway Project, please contact Bob Cheung, City of West Hollywood Senior Transportation Planner, at bcheung@weho.org or (323) 848-6346. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
Can we please take care of the sky rocketing crime rate in this neighborhood?? What’s the point of making it pretty if it’s not safe???? Also speaking of willougby can we address the homeless situation at La Brea!! I want my neighborhood to be safe!!! I’ve never felt unsafe from cars… we need to address was to curb crime not curbs.
Ways*
Bike lanes are the most important factor for cyclists. Bicycle lanes, marked out structurally or by markings, separate the flow of motor vehicles and bicycles. In addition to cyclists, only pedestrians can use the bike path.
This “improvement” just makes traffic more difficult and does not make any sense. It seems that there must be another solution to the “problem” , but this is not it.
I use Willoughby to avoid the Fairfax/Santa Monica intersection. This is a disappointing addition. It means that I have to make multiple turns, going up the first street I hit and then turn right on Romaine to Genesee. This does not improve traffic flow at all. I hope they remove this.
Great! Implement it all ready!! There is no good bike-path east of Kings Road and dedicated Bike Lane on Santa Monica Blvd ends at Kings Rd. Bikers have to divert to Willoughby there and biking infrastructure is awful on the eastside. Paint those green sharrows! Create bulb-outs, bioswales and those raised crosswalks!
I bet all the nay sayers are old farts, and all they do in a day is sit on their fat a***s and reek of steak, and who are averse to any healthy lifestyle change, and would run over a biker if they had their way.
3 of the most rediculous ideas I’ve ever seen! 1) Ogden, diverting traffic to where? Waring Ave, that’s where! Waring is another small street that is typcially used by bike riders and families pushing strollers, joggers and walkers – Thanks for messing up Waring to make Willoughby a “safe street”? Waring Ave never needed a dime to be spent on it and it’s used extensivly by people in the neighborhood…or at least it used to be! 2) Spaulding Ave – does more to make it unsafe to make a right turn if an unsuspecting driver goes over those bumps in… Read more »
How about doing something about the massive pass through traffic on Sunset Blvd. (Fairfax to Doheny) during rush hour! Very little local traffic can even use it between 8-10 am & 3-6)
By far the most heavily polluting, congested road used to feed Beverly Hills (and further West) workers.
Aging in WeHo – Last I recalled, Willoughby is one of the Narrowest Residential (more like a cut through than a full street) The length of this proposal is enough to question who is in on the ground level of planning. Naming a project could be the difference between it getting done or not at all. Again, my memory is going as I get old, but the cartoon rendering made Willoughby look like Santa Monica Blvd in size & flow of traffic Only red flag, adding planters at corners WILL OBVIOUSLY NARROW ONE OF THE ALREADY NARROWEST STREETS I’VE SEEN.… Read more »
Boy I hate the driving experience now— Sometimes bikes get too much room for streets–I drive electric and cant drive the larger streets to get to my destinations. damn hard for me
The Ogden traffic diverter is a joke – routinely ignored, and when obeyed to the function it signposts, simply diverts eastbound traffic onto Waring: another narrow residential street
I’m one of those young men of which you speak…except I’m not young. Only when it’s not safe to ride on SMB do I use the sidewalk until I can get back on a side street. I am exceedingly cautious & more than respectful of pedestrians; I jump off & walk when needed.
If West Hollywood was a city of fifth graders, the video may have been helpful, but it just looks like another unhelpful and expensive use of City resources. While Willoughby has too much cut thru traffic, it is a narrow street in an area that lacks sufficient residential parking. While some of these traffic “calming” proposals may be practical, but others are just expensive gimmicks. While there are a few sections that lack trees, but with the narrow sidewalks you would have to eliminate parking spaces to add trees. Not exactly a viable solution.