Barrier Successfully Cuts Off Popular Shortcut : Traffic: Temporary diverter on overloaded Higuera Street will be made permanent. Drivers have been forced to use streets better suited for commuting, study finds.

A temporary traffic barricade that has halved the amount of traffic streaming along a popular shortcut through an east Culver City neighborhood will be made permanent.

The cluster of painted lines, reflectors and construction barricades at Higuera Street and Hayden Avenue has been forcing cars traveling along Higuera to turn right or left onto Hayden since February.

The temporary diverter will be replaced with a more-sturdy structure that may feature an escape hatch to allow emergency vehicles to clear it without damage.

Staff members could design “a barrier that would break away or fold down if run over, but would spring back up and continue to bar the average motorist,” said Ken Johnson, traffic engineering consultant for the city.

At a regular meeting Monday, the Culver City Council approved a schematic design for a permanent diverter that not only forces cars to turn onto Hayden but does not allow cars to make left turns from Hayden onto Higuera.

The diverter will cost about $90,000. The money was set aside in the Redevelopment Agency budget last year, said Jim Davis, city engineer.

The temporary diverter was installed in response to complaints from residents along Higuera Street who said they could barely get in and out of their driveways due to a steady stream of commuters who used their street as a shortcut to the Santa Monica Freeway (10).

About 16,000 cars travel the route each day, three times more than the residential street was designed to handle. Staff members had hoped the diverter would encourage commuters to use nearby National Boulevard instead, which at 10,000 cars a day is operating at one-third capacity.

A report on the results of the diverter said that traffic on National Boulevard increased by 20% and traffic on Hayden doubled.

Traffic increased slightly on nearby residential streets such as Lucerne Avenue, and residents from those streets demanded traffic barricades of their own. Owners of businesses located at Hayden and Higuera complained of safety hazards created by harried commuters making U-turns in their parking lots, and they demanded alternative solutions. Blair Hills residents expressed concern over the finding that the diverter could slow down paramedics and firetrucks responding to emergencies.

But support for the diverter was overwhelming.

“Now I can get out in the street without taking my life in my hands,” said Dorothy Mullens, a Higuera Street resident.

Police reported that about 9% of the cars traveling along Higuera failed divert because of the barrier. During a two-month study period beginning Feb. 24, police issued 1,227 traffic citations at the diverter for illegal maneuvers such as U-turns.

City staff will hold a public meeting on the final design and seek council approval before soliciting construction bids, Johnson said. Construction on the permanent diverter should begin in about three months.