Local News in Brief : Arrows at Intersection Will Curb Confusion

Motorists traveling down Wentworth Street in Sunland can turn only left or right at Foothill Boulevard. But, because they see a green light ahead, they sometimes keep going straight--right into a guardrail at the Big Tujunga Wash.

So says Los Angeles City Councilman Howard Finn. The councilman, whose district includes Sunland, Tuesday called on the council to instruct the city Transportation Department to immediately replace the traffic light on Wentworth at Foothill with left- and right-arrow signals.

Within a few hours after Finn introduced his motion, transportation officials agreed to the councilman’s request.

City records show that only one injury accident has occurred at the intersection in the last five years. Tom Jones, supervising transportation engineer for the Valley, said there could have been non-injury accidents that do not show up in the records because police no longer take reports on accidents involving only property damage.

Jones could not say when the department expects to complete installation of the light.

Finn’s motion asks the Transportation Department to survey other so-called “T” intersections throughout the city “to determine if safety should be improved by the replacement of simple green signals with arrows.”

His motion was referred to the council’s Transportation and Traffic Committee for study.