Bridging Gap Over Bunker Hill

Once upon a time, in a city not so far away, someone noticed a lot of people jaywalking across a busy downtown street rather than detour a block out of their way. So, the city’s leaders proclaimed: Let us end this hilltop trouble and build a new crosswalk, to be admired by pedestrians from near and far.

Thus, about 13 years ago, began the convoluted and expensive tale of the Grand Avenue Crosswalk. For much of that time, it was a horror story of bureaucratic infighting, engineering debates and a price that doubled to $596,000.

But today, this urban tale is supposed to have a happy ending. A new crosswalk bridge and traffic signals between 3rd and 4th streets on Bunker Hill are scheduled to be dedicated and put into public use.

The moral of this Los Angeles story?

“On occasion, some things in this city don’t happen like they should,” suggested mayoral aide Tom LaBonge, who is credited with helping to push for completion. The crosswalk, he added, is an example of how city departments can be overly concerned “about their own little bureaucracy and their own mission and lose the big picture.”

Ayahlushim Hammond, an official of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency--which created the crosswalk--recalled feeling so frustrated at times that she jokingly considered putting down two pieces of lumber and declaring the job finished.

“I think this has been the smallest, biggest project,” she said. “It’s been very difficult to do it, but it got done.”

Thousands of office workers walk Bunker Hill streets and many are awaiting today’s opening with a bit of skepticism. They are tired of construction delays and more weary of getting slapped with $55 jaywalking citations.

“It’s a joke around here. The joke is that we thought the city didn’t want to finish it because they would lose all that revenue from jaywalking,” remarked Mike Sanders, a maintenance employee of the Metropolitan Water District on an outdoor coffee break Thursday near the crosswalk.

A direct walking path across Grand between the California Plaza and the Wells Fargo Center office complexes used to be blocked by guard rails and a large air well--punched, oddly, through the avenue’s median. The nearest legal crosswalk is a block away.

Even Mayor Richard Riordan jaywalked there last year during a publicity event for a downtown guidebook.

Part of the difficulty, everyone agrees, was that a new crosswalk required a 25-foot-long bridge to be built over the air well. This section of Grand is itself a bridge, built over a lower roadway now reserved for truck deliveries.

As a result, many engineering, lighting, fire and seismic safety questions were raised during inter-departmental squabbling, according to city documents. The debates ranged from how to maintain the pathway’s granite pave stones to where exactly to put the crosswalk. Traffic experts feared northbound motorists coming uphill from Fourth Street might not be able to see pedestrians.

Records show that a host of city agencies were involved, along with private designers and builders. City council member Rita Walters and Riordan also voiced opinions.

“It took horribly long and I can not find a valid reason why,” said Walters, who is to lead today’s ceremony activating the traffic signal. She added, however, that she is grateful for the completion. She and everyone else agrees jaywalking across Grand was dangerous.

Some people in city government blame delays on the CRA for being overly concerned with details of how the pave stones and light fixtures would look, and for not better supervising consultants. CRA people complain they faced permit roadblocks from agencies that can cope only with cookie-cutter designs.

The CRA originally proposed the crosswalk 13 years ago. A CRA document from July 1987 predicted completion in “early December 1988.”

In a subsequent memo, written in November 1995, a CRA employee who has since left the agency warned: “We’ve ducked bad publicity so far, but someone is bound to notice that the crosswalk is not happening. This could be a major embarrassment to us.”

Construction finally began in February 1998, according to Raul Gallo, a project manager for Tishman Construction, which is managing the work. The general contractor is D.W. Powell Construction. Some problems were caused by the need to safely attach electrical and traffic signal conduits under the bridge; in a traditional crosswalk, those would be buried under soil or pavement. Final delays occurred in the manufacturing of special light fixtures that met CRA design requirements, Gallo said.

Over the years, customers of the nearby Stepps restaurant have complained about getting nailed with jaywalking tickets, said general manager Michael Moore. That hurt business.

He predicted a happy ending for the crosswalk tale: “It will make Bunker Hill more accessible. It will make life easier for everybody.”