BIXBY KNOLLS : City Expected to OK Diagonal Parking Plan
Northbound traffic on a six-block stretch of Atlantic Avenue in Bixby Knolls may be slowing to a crawl at times after the city adds diagonal parking next month.
And that’s just fine with local merchants, who say they are tired of watching potential customers whiz past at 45 m.p.h.
The plan is scheduled to come before the council Tuesday for final approval.
“We want to encourage people to stop, get out of their cars, walk and shop,” said Mary Coburn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Assn.
The group had urged the City Council to approve diagonal parking on both sides of Atlantic and install landscaped islands in the middle of the street. The plan would have narrowed traffic to one lane in each direction instead of the existing two lanes, and rerouted some traffic to other streets, said City Engineer Ed Putz.
The council tentatively opted for a less-disruptive alternative--creating diagonal parking only on the east side of Atlantic between Armando and San Antonio drives. The diagonal parking will replace parallel parking spaces, increasing parking capacity by 30% to 50%, Putz said. The downside is that shoppers will have to back into traffic, resulting in lower speeds and increasing the likelihood of collisions, he added.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
