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New right-hand turn pocket on Angeles Crest Highway aims to reduce traffic buildup

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City officials recently unveiled a new right-hand turn pocket on northbound Angeles Crest Highway they hope will reduce vehicle backup onto Foothill Boulevard by allowing easier access to the eastbound Foothill (210) Freeway.

Public Works Director Edward Hitti said the new lane — completed last week over the course of a few nighttime sessions fronting the Shell gas station — will better separate vehicles wishing to continue northbound on Angeles Crest from those seeking to enter the 210-East on-ramp.

Previously, both groups of vehicles tended to pile up in a single right-hand lane, and the resulting traffic would stretch into the intersection of the two thoroughfares and occasionally block passage on Foothill Boulevard in both directions.

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Although no longer than five car lengths, the new turn pocket is part of a larger effort to help ease congestion in and around the city’s Town Center, which has garnered several citizen complaints since its 2007 opening.

“If you can relieve just three or four cars, it helps keep traffic from backing up cars on Foothill,” Hitti said after a Dec. 20 council meeting in which the new lane was introduced. “It maximizes mobility and minimizes congestion.”

In 2013, the city budgeted $68,872 for a consultant-conducted traffic survey that would examine stoplight wait times, traffic volume and accident occurrence at seven signalized intersections in the area of the Town Center, which see a combined 20,000 cars daily.

The survey concluded even major efforts would not significantly reduce traffic times through the area, then estimated at about 2.5 minutes. While costly stoplight synchronization was considered, council members opted to make smaller adjustments to improve the flow of traffic in that area.

Hitti said the city had to meet three criteria, set forth by the California Department of Transportation, in order to fit a slightly narrower turn lane into that portion of Angeles Crest (11 feet in width, compared to Caltrans’ standard 12 feet).

The number of trucks and average daily traffic counts had to be below a certain threshold, and the speed limit had to be below 40 mph, the public works director said.

“The faster you go, the wider the lane needs to be,” Hitti said. “The slower your lane, the narrower it can be.”

In June, council members used the results of a new traffic study to reduce the speed limit along the .2-mile segment from 40 mph to 30 mph. Once that was applied, all three Caltrans criteria were met and the installation of the right-turn pocket was approved.

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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine

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