Steve Hymon

Road Sage

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Recent Columns:
July 24, 2008
Gas prices are up, traffic is down, and mass transit ridership has gone through the roof.

July 23, 2008
Caltrans announced Tuesday its preferred method for improving the 405-101 freeway interchange, which the agency says is one of the busiest in the world. But don't get too excited. The agency also says that it doesn't have the money to design or build the project, which is expected to cost about $135 million.

July 22, 2008
Federal officials recently issued a report on pedestrian deaths across the United States between 1997 and 2006.

July 18, 2008
I just returned from One Gateway Plaza, where Metro Chief Executive Roger Snoble spent an hour talking with the news media about the effort to ask voters in November to raise the sales tax in Los Angeles by half a cent on the dollar to pay for more road and mass-transit projects.

July 17, 2008
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a six-month test program Wednesday that will allow taxicabs to pick up fares at more places in downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood. Here's how downtown Councilwoman Jan Perry put it after the momentous vote: "Common sense has prevailed. Now we can hail a cab like they do in other cities."

July 15, 2008
Someone recently asked me a simple question: Why is there traffic?

July 9, 2008
As part of a deal-in-the-making over transit funding, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is proposing moving the congestion pricing plan for Los Angeles County to the 110 Freeway from the 210 Freeway.

July 2, 2008
Now that it's July, it's possible to better assess whether motorists are seeing zippier commutes on Southland freeways. The https://pems.eecs.berkeley.edu/ -- run by UC Berkeley and Caltrans -- has its numbers online and they are somewhat of a mixed bag.

July 1, 2008
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti has introduced a motion calling for the city to explore using "sharrows" on roadways to improve relations between cyclists and vehicles.

June 27, 2008
With gas prices soaring and mass transit ridership on the upswing, local transportation officials Thursday took a key step toward asking voters in November to approve a half-cent sales tax increase to fund at least $30 billion in road and mass transit projects. Here's a quick guide to what happened -- and what may happen in the months ahead: