Dispute Puts Los Angeles Street Striping in the Slow Lane

A protracted dispute between city officials and a Sun Valley contractor has left at least 16 city streets without the required reflective striping that usually separates traffic lanes.

City transportation crews now are racing to lay down the yellow or white lines on stretches of major thoroughfares such as Victory and Foothill boulevards.

The stripes--made of molten plastic poured onto the pavement--are designed to reflect light. Leaving the streets with no reflective striping creates a danger of vehicles veering into oncoming traffic.

There are also possible legal problems. In April, the city attorney’s office reached a $9-million settlement with a family injured in a head-on collision with a drunk driver who crossed over a section of Alameda Street where the striping had deteriorated.

“You have drivers trying to stay in their lanes at night with no guidance,” said Richard Koskoff, the family’s lawyer.

A backlog of striping work has been building for months because of confusion and a disagreement between the city’s General Services Department and the striping contractor, Sterndahl Enterprises. Purchasing officials at first were confused over whether Sterndahl was the lowest bidder. Then told the contractor they wanted a five-year contract scaled back to a three-year deal. The department was called on the carpet last week by the City Council’s Transportation Committee.

“We dropped the ball,” supply director William Gamble said. “We erred.”

Compounding the problem is the lack of communication between the Department of Public Works and the Department of Transportation, some city officials say. Public Works is responsible for paving and resurfacing roads, and is supposed to advise Transportation when the roads need striping. But Transportation officials say Public Works is sometimes late.

“There are occasions when a street sits unmarked for two weeks,” said Tom Swire, assistant general manager of the Transportation Department.

Of the streets listed by the Transportation Department as requiring work, 13 need white striping to separate lanes heading in the same direction. Three roads--Olive Street between 6th and 9th streets, North Main Street from Mission Road to Gibbons Street and Soto Street between Cesar Chavez Avenue and 1st Street--were listed Friday as in need of yellow striping to separate opposing traffic, Swire said.

When the department finds that its own crews cannot get to a street quickly, it typically offers the work to a private contractor. But since late January, Sterndahl Enterprises has been in a bitter dispute with the city over its new contract.

City officials signed a three-year, $2.8-million contract with the firm Wednesday, one hour before the issue was to go before the Transportation Committee.

Company President Dennis Sterndahl said he was disappointed with the city’s confusion over the contract.

“The threat to public safety should be their No. 1 concern,” he said.