$50,000 OKd for Stadium Traffic Study

The Los Angeles City Council this week authorized a $50,000 traffic study for the Dodger Stadium area to look at ways to reduce the traffic that cripples parts of Echo Park, Silver Lake, Solano Canyon and Elysian Valley each baseball season.

City officials say the study will probably begin in November, after the council selects a traffic consultant. It is expected to continue through spring so that the consultant can monitor traffic patterns during baseball games and suggest alternate routes or other solutions, said Bill Pruner, a legislative assistant to the council’s Transportation and Traffic Committee.

Allyn Rifkin, head of the city’s transportation planning division, said the council expects a final report by June 30 and hopes to implement the consultant’s suggestions before the end of the 1987 baseball season.

The study, authorized Tuesday, also will look at ways to ease traffic in Northeast Los Angeles headed to or from downtown. Many commuters try to avoid freeway traffic by cutting through Elysian Park and Solano Canyon.

‘Things Are on Track’

Neighborhood leaders who have lobbied Councilmen John Ferraro and Michael Woo for more than a year to initiate such a study said they were pleased with the council’s decision.

“It seems that things are on track and there will be results,” said Bennett Kayser, one of the leaders of Neighbors of Dodger Stadium, a coalition of seven groups.

Kayser and others complained that, during baseball games, freeway commuting becomes unbearable as exits jam with traffic generated by fans. Local residents say they cannot get in or out of their own driveways on evenings when games are played.

Ferraro introduced a motion in the council June 10 asking that the Department of Transportation develop a proposal request for the traffic study. The Dodger Stadium area shifted into Woo’s district Aug. 1, when new City Council districts took effect.

The traffic study will look at the area between Golden State Freeway and Riverside Drive on the north and east, the Pasadena Freeway and Temple Street on the south and Silver Lake Boulevard on the west.