City to Redeploy 175 Officers in Attack on Holiday Traffic Mess

If all goes according to plan, fewer traffic snarls will spoil the holidays for shoppers who drive Los Angeles streets. But it will mean more tickets for drivers and pedestrians alike, more costly towing, and disrupted traffic habits for thousands of commuters.

On the other hand, those who like to gamble a $28 citation by parking illegally will stand a better chance of escaping a ticket if they do their law-scoffing in less-busy areas of the city.

Starting Friday, as many as 175 parking and traffic officers will be pulled off regular duties and deployed to fight the congestion that year after year plays fits with street traffic near major shopping districts.

For the next month, helicopters, computers and the combined forces of the Department of Transportation and Los Angeles Police Department will be unleashed on the problem. “We believe with this massive program we are going to eliminate a lot of the bottlenecks,” Mayor Tom Bradley said Tuesday.

Downtown Business Area

Parts of Hollywood, Westwood, the Wilshire area and the San Fernando Valley will be included, but the biggest change awaits commuters and shoppers who regularly drive into the downtown central business district.

Turns will be restricted on weekdays along lengthy stretches of Broadway and Los Angeles Street and at 11 other downtown intersections, forcing some downtown veterans to discover new routes.

On weekdays, after the morning rush, uniformed Transportation Department officers will direct traffic at 51 intersections instead of the handful now staffed by officers. When the afternoon rush begins at 3 p.m., the start of the hellish four hours when office workers share the streets with shoppers, delivery trucks and commuter buses, officers will be stationed at 77 corners throughout downtown.

The 3 p.m. witching hour will also signal the start of new tow-away parking zones on stretches of 13 streets where shoppers and people with business in government offices have sought refuge from downtown’s expensive parking lots.

Included in the new parking restrictions will be Broadway from Temple Street to Olympic Boulevard, Figueroa Street from Olympic to 3rd Street, and shorter pieces of curbside scattered around the central area and the garment district.

Towing of Cars

Up to a dozen ticket-writers will be dispatched downtown doing nothing but arranging the towing of illegally parked cars that clog traffic, Department of Transportation Chief S.E. Rowe said.

The afternoon rush downtown will also find the strictest enforcement of the anti-gridlock law, which forbids blocking of intersections, and of the law that makes it a violation for pedestrians to begin crossing a street if the red “Don’t Walk” sign is blinking or lit.

Rowe said that drivers who enter an intersection, only to find their way is blocked, are a major source of big traffic tie-ups. The same is true for pedestrians who cross late in a green light, delaying turns by motorists and causing long queues in the turn lanes that back up through traffic.

Because city traffic officers cannot issue moving violations, Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officers will be stationed at key intersections during the afternoon rush to nab violators, Rowe said.

In addition to downtown, traffic officers will be stationed on weekdays at five Hollywood intersections, eight intersections in the mid-Wilshire area, 10 corners on the Westside and seven intersections in the San Fernando Valley.

Many of the problem intersections are near popular shopping malls or busy freeway exits. In the case of Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards in Sherman Oaks, traffic officials are confronted with the large Sherman Oaks Galleria, exits from the San Diego and Ventura freeways, and the ordinary traffic that flows from two of the valley’s most heavily traveled thoroughfares.

Other Possible Action

Rowe said he has lists of more intersections that will be covered if traffic problems occur.

Traffic tends to be lighter on weekends, but city officials also will attack weekend traffic snarls in several popular shopping areas downtown where holiday congestion has been worst.

On Saturdays, stopping will be prohibited by tow-away signs on Broadway from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Traffic officers will staff 28 intersections to keep shoppers flowing smoothly in Chinatown, the garment district, the jewelry district around Hill and 7th streets, the toy district near Little Tokyo and along Los Angeles Street.

In addition, turns will be prohibited on stretches of Broadway and Los Angeles Street. Uniformed police officers will be assigned to write tickets for pedestrians who cross on “Don’t Walk” signs along Broadway.

Traffic officers will also be assigned on weekends to the Pico Boulevard intersections near the Westside Pavilion shopping mall.