Rerouting Traffic to Clear the Way

Pope John Paul II’s winding parade Tuesday through several Los Angeles ethnic neighborhoods and business areas will take only about 45 minutes, but traffic planners have approached the event with the kind of concern that went into preparing for the 16 days of the 1984 Olympics.

Whether all of that planning pays off with the same sort of trouble-free traffic experienced during the Summer Games or ends in the gridlock they have worked so hard to avoid will hinge on one crucial element: crowd size. No one knows for certain how many of the faithful or the curious will materialize to wave at and cheer the pontiff; city traffic planners estimate anywhere from 1 million to 2 million.

As a result of what they call “the big unknown,” traffic planners and police officials alike have been forced to prepare for the worst. The Los Angeles Police Department has canceled all days off, moved officers off desk jobs and placed most sworn personnel on 12-hour shifts for security and traffic-related purposes.

Police Cmdr. George Morrison last week predicted “a massive traffic problem” and said he is concerned not only about protecting the Pope but also “making sure the general population is also protected . . . that we don’t engage in activity where there could be a crush of people, for example.”

During the Olympics, Morrison and other planners knew that gridlock would strangle normal congested rush-hour flow unless commuters and Olympic spectators alike applied such concepts as flex-time, staggered hours and car pools. An unprecedented level of cooperation, from government and private businesses, developed, and holiday-like traffic resulted.

This week, some of those same congestion-busting strategies will be tried again on government and private sector levels. The conditions are not the same, however.

Even though Tuesday’s motorcade is a brief one, its location in the hub of the downtown business district during a weekday could have a massive, rippling effect on movement in the region.

Unlike the ’84 Games, the papal parade will force the 95,000 morning rush-hour commuters who normally pour into the Central Business District to contend with street and freeway on- and off-ramp closures. In addition, street closings will bar late arrivers from pulling into their regular parking places or block cars of early arrivers from leaving most of the day.

And even during worst-case Olympic traffic projections, bus riders heading downtown would have fared substantially better then than on Tuesday morning, when tens of thousands of them will be dropped off several blocks from their usual spots, possibly in unfamiliar surroundings, due to closed streets.

Thomas Conner, a city traffic planner, said that if the spectator crowd is under a million, the traffic picture should be manageable.

“If people don’t heed the advice and the crowd is large,” he added, “then no matter what we do in terms of traffic signal timing and police officers and traffic officers and barricading and engineers in the field and cones and signs and buses, we’re going to have congestion.”

Papal visit officials have voiced confidence that traffic problems will be minimal and have encouraged a large turnout to greet the pontiff. Archbishop Roger M. Mahony said last week he hopes that up to 2 million will line the route.

Trouble With 2 Million

But Conner said such a turnout would spell trouble: “If the crowd goes as high as 2 million, the areas of congestion might go even larger than what we have (predicted) on congestion maps.”

There is, of course, a real chance that all of the traffic warnings may discourage people from showing up to greet the Pope.

Motorcades in Miami, South Carolina and New Orleans in the last several days attracted smaller crowds than had been predicted.

Asked about this phenomenon Saturday, Melanie Savage, a spokeswoman for the Papal Visit Office here, said: “The Pope hasn’t put a number of people he needs to see. He has no requirement for how many people show up, so why should we? We’re persuaded by the adage, ‘Everyone loves a parade.’

“We don’t want to scare people. For a lot of people, this will be their only opportunity see the Holy Father. . . . There will be congestion, no one says there won’t be. There just isn’t going to be gridlock.”

Scare Away Some

Conner said the only people Los Angeles officials want to scare from the downtown area are those not already planning to attend the motorcade and who have no need to enter the Central Business District on Tuesday.

Conner said the normal three-hour morning rush will be compacted into two hours if commuter and spectator traffic mixes on Tuesday. He advised all downtown commuters, regardless of when they normally go to work, to leave an hour earlier than normal.

Last week, the city set up a special traffic information hot line to answer questions in English, Spanish, Chinese and Korean. The number is (213) 617-8500.

Aside from the motorcade, minor disruptions and street closures will surround some of the other pontiff’s Los Angeles activities, particularly the Tuesday night Mass at the Coliseum.

Beginning Monday, the RTD will divert 120 bus lines that normally would cross or run on streets either closed temporarily for Tuesday’s papal motorcade or for three days around St. Vibiana’s Cathedral. (See map for additional details.)

Buses Won’t Run Earlier

District planner Steve Parry said buses will not run earlier than normal, but for those who decide to head downtown early, there should be plenty of room on those lines. On major lines, additional buses will be running before and after the parade ends, Parry said. Those added buses will not only run people home but also to the Coliseum.

One major unknown Tuesday is parking availability. It is expected that many businesses near the parade route, such as gas stations, will set up temporary pay lots. And some parking restrictions normally in force Monday and Tuesday on streets crossing the parade route will be on a holiday schedule to ease the parking problem.

Conner said that on Tuesday, nearly all 500 traffic enforcement officers will be assigned to papal duty, 278 for the parade area. Conner acknowledged that few, if any, parking tickets will be written anywhere else in the city Tuesday.

Another unknown for many parade spectators is the availability of restroom facilities, particularly if they heed the advice of police to show up as many as seven hours early. Some businesses may open their doors to spectators, and the archdiocese said Saturday that it will furnish 84 portable toilets along the 65-block route, but the facilities may be in short supply in some locations.

To reduce the traffic impact of the Coliseum Mass, the gates will be opened by 1 p.m. so that the 100,000 ticket holders can begin to filter in early and be in their seats by 4 p.m. Officials in the papal visit office predict that as many as 100,000 others may mill around the area, although the televised Mass will not have speakers for those outside the Coliseum.

On Wednesday night, no one without a ticket to the Dodger Stadium Mass will be permitted on the grounds, but police are still expecting possible crowds of the curious.

One of the biggest institutions affected, the Los Angeles Unified School District, will begin its new year Wednesday, instead of Tuesday, because street closings downtown will block the paths of school buses. The school closures could mean that children and their parents will extend summer vacations a day, thus reducing downtown commuter traffic.

City, County Hearings Postponed

City and county hearings normally scheduled for Tuesday have been postponed. Many other government offices will remain open, but will be scaling down operations to the minimum.

The U.S. District Court will all but shut down on Tuesday, with only several courts open for emergencies and arraignments, officials said.

But the state courts will try to function without too much disruption.

Jack E. Goertzen, presiding judge of the Superior Court, urged judges to reschedule cases already set for Tuesday and to “take whatever measures they can” to reschedule appearances by police officer-witnesses, who will be needed to provide security for the Pope. Goertzen said “jurors available for voir dire will be at a minimum” and suggested that judges consider beginning their sessions at 7 a.m.

An untold number of businesses along the motorcade route are planning to shut down at least for the motorcade’s duration and have rescheduled deliveries. Other downtown companies, in a spirit of cooperation (or resignation), also will either grant employees the day off or allow them to arrive late or several hours early Tuesday.

And, in anticipation of large crowds arriving at the Coliseum for Tuesday night’s Mass, the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park will be closed for the day.

Here are some traffic-related tips:

Downtown Commuters

If possible, take Tuesday off or work at home. Avoid discretionary trips downtown.

If unable to take the day off, arrive at work no later than 7:30 a.m. because the motorcade route will be closed to vehicular traffic at 8 a.m. If you work at a business or park your car in a lot that is along the motorcade route, you will be unable to drive there once the route closes.

Depending on the size of the downtown crowd, spectator traffic may not clear until 2:30 p.m., police say. Afternoon commuters should allow plenty of time to get to work.

To avoid heavier than normal congestion, leave for work an hour earlier than usual even if you normally would arrive at work by 7:30 a.m.

Take the bus or form a car pool.

Become familiar with suggested alternate freeway ramps and surface streets.

Parade Spectators

Arrive early, but not too early. Officials suggest arriving as early as 3 a.m., and no later than 7 to ensure a good viewing spot. Overnight camping along the parade route will not be permitted.

Avoid the downtown portion of the motorcade (past Figueroa Street) if possible. Planners say that unless you work or live downtown, the best way to avoid congestion and also leave the area quickly once the Pope passes by is to line up along the route’s outlying portions, from Western Avenue north to Olympic Boulevard and east toward Figueroa Street.

Choose a viewing location nearest the direction from which you started and park facing the direction in which you intend to leave.