City Raises Rush-Hour Parking Fine to $53

Fines for illegal parking on Los Angeles streets during rush hours were nearly doubled to $53 Monday in a new effort to ease the city’s worsening traffic congestion, Mayor Tom Bradley announced.

Along with the higher fines, Bradley proposed a series of tactical steps--including new left-turn lanes, parking limits and longer green lights--at dozens of congested spots throughout the city. Those further steps would first require City Council approval.

The most noticeable change to motorists under the mayor’s proposals would be the designation of reversible traffic lanes on stretches of Ventura and Victory boulevards in the San Fernando Valley and on Gaffey Street in San Pedro, where rush-hour traffic snarls occur almost daily.

The higher fines for illegal parking--up from $28--were imposed as part of the city’s crackdown on motorists who clog the right lane of major streets during the busiest driving hours.

During most of the day, traffic is light enough for the right lanes to be used for parking. But during rush hours, city traffic engineers argue, those lanes are essential for carrying cars and buses. Even a single parked car in the right lane at rush hour can cause a major snag.

Already, roving swarms of tow trucks are dispatched at rush hour by city traffic officers to remove illegally parked cars. The new $53 fine, which was approved earlier by the City Council and the Municipal Court judges, would be levied on motorists in addition to towing fees.

Bradley said the city expects to collect $6 million in the next year from the higher fine, and he proposed using much of the revenue to complete improvements that should ease rush-hour congestion.

The reversible lane idea is already used by the city on Highland Avenue in Hollywood. A center lane of the street is marked off to carry traffic south in the morning. In the afternoon, the lane is marked to carry traffic north.

The new reversible traffic lanes would be used to speed traffic along Ventura Boulevard in the Encino area and on Victory Boulevard on a stretch from Topanga Canyon Boulevard east to the San Diego Freeway. In San Pedro, the Gaffey Street lane would operate between 25th Street and the Harbor Freeway.

Bradley also proposed that the city add new left-turn pockets on several streets. That requires a fairly simple re-striping job in most areas, but on Wilshire Boulevard it would involve removing a landscaped median strip at La Brea and Fairfax avenues.