Post by streetmedic on Jan 29, 2008 16:27:26 GMT -8
I checked the recent posts and didn't see this posted yet so I hope it's not a duplicate. Just read this at KNBC's website:
www.knbc.com/traffic/15166940/detail.html
LOS ANGELES -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Tuesday unveiled a series of short-term initiatives to reduce traffic congestion, but acknowledged that public transportation is the only real way to move cars and people in Los Angeles.
Traffic Page
Standing on Wilshire Boulevard overlooking the Harbor (110) Freeway, the mayor said that in order to pay for major public transit projects, he is considering backing a countywide half-cent sales tax that would generate between $500 million and $600 million a year for public transportation.
Such a measure could appear on the November ballot.
"It's one of a number of options we have to look at. I think we have to look at public-private partnerships, as well," Villaraigosa said. "The fact of the matter is we just don't have the resources we need here in the city of Los Angeles to really address the gridlock."
To promote public transportation, Villaraigosa said he will ride a bus, subway or light rail line at least once a week.
Tickets, deployment of more traffic officers and synchronized lights were among the short-term solutions Villaraigosa announced as part of his initiative to reduce gridlock.
In the next 12 to 16 weeks, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation will deploy traffic officers and video cameras to 10 intersections where drivers routinely block traffic by trying to make a yellow light. Drivers who block intersections can expect to receive a citation from the city.
A fourth "Tiger Team" will be deployed to Sunset Boulevard between Vermont Avenue and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to enforce parking laws. License plate recognition technology will also be used to cite drivers who illegally park their vehicles.
Traffic signals in the Westchester and Mid-Wilshire areas will be synchronized. In Westchester, 136 intersections will be synched at a cost of $4.9 million, and in Mid-Wilshire, the city will spend $5.7 million to time lights at 256 intersections.
The mayor said all of his initiatives will be paid for with resources already allocated to the Department of Transportation.
Plans to create priority express corridors, similar to the plan to turn Olympic Boulevard into a westbound street and Pico Boulevard into a eastbound thoroughfare, are being considered for major streets in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.
"There's always going (to be) naysayers. There's going to be opposition, obviously, but you can't say that you want to reduce praffic and not join in the effort," Villaraigosa said.
Right- and left-turn pockets, new street lights and landscaping will also be added to the city's most congested intersection at Highland and Franklin avenues.
Taking a cue from the city of Beverly Hills, LADOT officials plan to install diagonal crosswalks at 10 of the city's busiest intersections.
www.knbc.com/traffic/15166940/detail.html
LOS ANGELES -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Tuesday unveiled a series of short-term initiatives to reduce traffic congestion, but acknowledged that public transportation is the only real way to move cars and people in Los Angeles.
Traffic Page
Standing on Wilshire Boulevard overlooking the Harbor (110) Freeway, the mayor said that in order to pay for major public transit projects, he is considering backing a countywide half-cent sales tax that would generate between $500 million and $600 million a year for public transportation.
Such a measure could appear on the November ballot.
"It's one of a number of options we have to look at. I think we have to look at public-private partnerships, as well," Villaraigosa said. "The fact of the matter is we just don't have the resources we need here in the city of Los Angeles to really address the gridlock."
To promote public transportation, Villaraigosa said he will ride a bus, subway or light rail line at least once a week.
Tickets, deployment of more traffic officers and synchronized lights were among the short-term solutions Villaraigosa announced as part of his initiative to reduce gridlock.
In the next 12 to 16 weeks, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation will deploy traffic officers and video cameras to 10 intersections where drivers routinely block traffic by trying to make a yellow light. Drivers who block intersections can expect to receive a citation from the city.
A fourth "Tiger Team" will be deployed to Sunset Boulevard between Vermont Avenue and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to enforce parking laws. License plate recognition technology will also be used to cite drivers who illegally park their vehicles.
Traffic signals in the Westchester and Mid-Wilshire areas will be synchronized. In Westchester, 136 intersections will be synched at a cost of $4.9 million, and in Mid-Wilshire, the city will spend $5.7 million to time lights at 256 intersections.
The mayor said all of his initiatives will be paid for with resources already allocated to the Department of Transportation.
Plans to create priority express corridors, similar to the plan to turn Olympic Boulevard into a westbound street and Pico Boulevard into a eastbound thoroughfare, are being considered for major streets in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.
"There's always going (to be) naysayers. There's going to be opposition, obviously, but you can't say that you want to reduce praffic and not join in the effort," Villaraigosa said.
Right- and left-turn pockets, new street lights and landscaping will also be added to the city's most congested intersection at Highland and Franklin avenues.
Taking a cue from the city of Beverly Hills, LADOT officials plan to install diagonal crosswalks at 10 of the city's busiest intersections.
