HUNTINGTON BEACH : Residents Petition for Safety Measures

Claiming unsafe traffic conditions, residents of two areas of Huntington Beach have petitioned the City Council to put street-crossing warnings in their neighborhoods.

At the council meeting Monday night, petitioners asked for safer crossings at the intersection of Edwards Street, Varsity Drive and Central Park Drive and at the juncture of 14th Street and Pacific Coast Highway. Both requests were referred to the city’s staff for study and for a report back to the council on Sept. 3.

Kristina Wallingford, a resident of the Edwards Street area, was among four persons who told the council there is traffic danger in that neighborhood. The four speakers presented a neighborhood petition that requested a four-way stop at the intersection.

“Something needs to be done,” said Wallingford. “Children are not able to cross the street. Edwards is a dangerous street.”

James Otterson, a traffic engineer for the city, told the council that a four-way stop sign at the intersection might worsen, rather than lessen, danger. Otterson said people who have long driven Edwards Street might not recognize new stop signs and brake in time. “I’m afraid people (pedestrians) would have undue faith in a stop sign,” Otterson said.

But council members responded that some action needs to be taken soon.

“We can’t just put our heads in the sand. . . . I think it’s time we took some action,” Councilman Don MacAllister said.

A neighborhood petition for marking a crosswalk at 14th and Pacific Coast Highway was presented to the council by John Walt. A crosswalk once was painted on Coast Highway at the intersection but it was obliterated during recent state highway work.

Walt said city staffers have tried to persuade people to use other crosswalks. But Walt said the other crosswalks are not convenient to steps at the beach.