Signaling New Help With Traffic

Working on the premise that people can do what traffic signals cannot -- make motorists play by the rules -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that traffic officers would help unsnarl rush-hour gridlock at 38 intersections. The program began Friday.

City traffic officials say that studies of 40 intersections in Los Angeles over the last seven months have shown that having officers guide traffic could reduce some commute times by as much as 20%. The reason is that officers can prevent vehicles and pedestrians from blocking intersections.

In recent years officers have rarely been trotted out for traffic control. Former Mayor James K. Hahn deployed a few during the battle over Valley secession but pulled them after the breakaway was voted down in 2002.

Since then, officers have been used mostly for special events or when traffic lights conk out.

“We’re going to try new things, folks,” Villaraigosa said at a news conference at a mini-mart near Universal City. “That’s what leadership is all about.”

But the idea to use officers to direct traffic during the rush hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. wasn’t cooked up overnight.

Councilman Tom LaBonge proposed use of officers in 2003, which was hardly surprising; LaBonge frequently leaps out of his city vehicle to direct traffic around accidents or to help infirm people across the street.

At LaBonge’s urging, Hahn included money in his final budget to assign 50 officers at key intersections. If Villaraigosa decides to extend the program beyond this fiscal year, it will cost about $3.9 million, with $2.4 million coming from the city’s general fund and the rest from Proposition C funds. The officers will also write parking tickets to generate revenue when they’re not directing traffic.

The officers will be stationed at 38 of the most clogged crossroads in the city, including Wilshire and Westwood boulevards in Westwood, Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Hollywood and Imperial Highway and Central Avenue in South Los Angeles.

If the experiment works, the big winner will be the San Fernando Valley, where 15 of the intersections are located.

And the loser will be the far Westside, with the communities of Playa del Rey, Venice and Pacific Palisades being entirely shut out.

Los Angeles is considered to be behind the times when it comes to traffic signals. Only 1,658 of the 4,325 intersections in the city are equipped with up-to-date synchronized lights.

And 1,104 intersections have no synchronization at all, including large swaths of the western and northeastern San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles and the Harbor area.

At least 400 intersections need at least one left-hand turn arrow to help motorists avoid playing chicken with oncoming traffic.

The question is exactly how much officers can help.

“The officers are not overriding the timing of the lights, they’re merely enforcing the rules,” said John Fisher, the assistant general manager of the city’s transportation department.

“All it takes is one car or pedestrian blocking the intersection and everything goes to pot.”

Villaraigosa and Wendy Greuel, chairwoman of the City Council’s transportation committee, said that even with the officers, the city still hopes to synchronize all its lights. But that would cost $150 million, and Villaraigosa would not provide a timeline.

A preview of what the city may get was seen at the mayor’s news conference at Barham and Cahuenga boulevards near Universal City.

As Villaraigosa spoke, a traffic officer was gesticulating wildly in the intersection. Traffic was still backed up, but at least it was moving.

Sgt. Albert Wainwright Jr., who was part of the contingent attending the news conference, stood nearby wearing ribbons signifying traffic jams that he has worked over the years. He said he favored the new deployment.

“Technology can help us,” he said, “but it cannot take our place.”

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Traffic control

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa annouced Friday that traffic officers will be stationed at 38 intersections during the 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. rush hours on each weekday. Only 12 of those junctions will have officers in both the morning and afternoon.

*--* Area Intersection Rush hour Atwater Village San Fernando Rd. and Fletcher Dr. p.m. Cheviot Hills Overland Ave. and National Blvd. a.m. Downtown 16th St. and San Pedro St. p.m. 1st St. and Alameda St. p.m. 5th St. and Figueroa St. p.m. Vermont Ave. and Washington Blvd. a.m./p.m. Eastside Soto St. and Washington Blvd. p.m. Hancock Park Melrose Ave. and Highland Ave. a.m./p.m. Rossmore Ave. and Beverly Blvd. p.m. Hollywood Argyle Ave. and Franklin Ave. a.m./p.m. Highland Ave. and Sunset Blvd. p.m. Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. p.m. Hollywood Hills Cahuenga Blvd. and Barham Blvd. a.m./p.m. Koreatown Vermont Ave. and Pico Blvd. a.m./p.m. Lake View Terrace Van Nuys Blvd. and Foothill Blvd. p.m. Leimert Park Crenshaw Blvd. and Stocker St. p.m. Los Feliz Los Feliz Blvd. and Griffith Park Dr. a.m./p.m. Mid-City La Cienega Blvd. and Fairfax Ave. a.m. North Hills Sepulveda Blvd. and Roscoe Blvd. p.m. Northridge Reseda Blvd. and Roscoe Blvd. a.m./p.m. Pacoima San Fernando Rd. and Van Nuys Blvd. p.m. Palms Overland Ave. and National Pl. a.m. San Pedro Gaffey St. and 9th St. p.m. Sherman Oaks Ventura Blvd. and Beverly Glen Blvd. a.m./p.m. Ventura Blvd. and Sepulveda Blvd. a.m./p.m. Ventura Blvd. and Van Nuys Blvd. a.m./p.m. South L.A. Imperial Hwy. and Central Ave. p.m. Studio City Ventura Blvd. and Coldwater Canyon Ave. a.m./p.m. Ventura Blvd. and Laurel Canyon Blvd. a.m./p.m. Sylmar Hubbard St. and Foothill Blvd. p.m. Tarzana Reseda Blvd. and Burbank Blvd. a.m. Reseda Blvd. and Clark St. p.m. Van Nuys Victory Blvd. and Coldwater Canyon Ave. p.m. Victory Blvd. and Sepulveda Blvd. p.m. West L.A. Santa Monica Blvd. and Westwood Blvd. p.m. Westwood Sunset Blvd. and Sepulveda Blvd. p.m. Veteran Ave. and Sunset Blvd. p.m. Wilshire Blvd. and Westwood Blvd. p.m.

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Source: City of Los Angeles