Metro Rail Work to Disrupt Traffic Starting Monday

If you work downtown, you may want to leave home early on Monday--and then prepare to live with the new schedule for the next three years or so.

Traffic diversions to make way for construction of the Los Angeles Metro Rail start next week, creating longer routes and longer delays for motorists, bus drivers and bus riders commuting into the Central City area.

On Sunday, 12 blocks of Hill Street, a major north-south route through the heart of downtown, is scheduled to be converted to one-way southbound. The change will make room for construction of two Metro Rail stations along Hill, at 1st and 5th streets, beginning in the next several weeks.

Also on Sunday, 31 Southern California Rapid Transit District bus routes serving 43,000 riders a day will be rerouted and 44 bus stops relocated. Many of those routes are now on Hill and Broadway, and must be shifted one or two blocks to the east to help relieve congestion near the construction zone, officials said.

Additional Conversions

The changes will be followed next month by one-way conversion of part of Figueroa Street (to northbound) and part of Flower Street (south) and the same for Grand Avenue (south) and Olive Street (north) in April.

Outlining the changes at a City Hall press conference Tuesday, city and RTD officials said they anticipate few problems with the first stage of reroutings.

“The congestion due to the street changes and bus changes will be minimal . . . except for some confusion,” said Donald Howery, city transportation chief.

Commuters who normally head northward out of downtown to the Hollywood or Pasadena freeways during evening rush hours will feel the pinch the most as a result of the first reroutings, Howery told The Times.

That is because the loss of northbound lanes on Hill will not be offset by enough additional northbound lanes on other streets. City traffic planners had wanted to convert Broadway, one block east of Hill, to all-northbound traffic. But Broadway merchants, fearing loss of business, fought and killed the plan.

Achieve Compromise

As a compromise, Broadway will have two southbound and three northbound lanes.

Howery said some northbound traffic will have to spill west to Olive Street and east to Main Street because of congestion on Broadway. Rush-hour speeds average only 5 or 6 m.p.h., he said, adding, “That’s about as bad as you can get.”

The series of reroutings is being made in anticipation of downtown traffic facing its tightest squeeze late next year, when simultaneous work is expected to be under way on Metro Rail, the Los Angeles-Long Beach trolley line and several skyscraper projects.

To help smooth the transition next week, special signs will be posted to alert motorists, and traffic officers will direct rush-hour movements at several Hill intersections.

Bus patrons will be advised of route changes through brochures and notices posted at bus stops. Transit representatives will also be at many bus stops to answer questions, RTD spokesman Gary Spivak said.

Some patrons may have longer walks to bus stops, but Spivak said the changes are needed to “maintain the reliability of schedules” during the height of Metro Rail construction activity over the next three years.

The 31 lines that will change routes on Monday provide downtown service from Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank, Glendale, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, the San Fernando Valley, West Los Angeles, East Los Angeles and South Los Angeles. Also affected will be some municipal bus routes from Santa Monica and Montebello, RTD officials said.

A task force of public agency officials and downtown business representatives has been formed to cope with the traffic problem during Metro Rail construction. The group, created by Mayor Tom Bradley, is dusting off some of the strategies used to minimize traffic snarls during the 1984 Olympics, including relying on the news media to warn motorists of changes, seeking voluntary limits on business deliveries during rush hours and regulating street construction work near new developments.