Council Tackles Traffic Along Ocean Park Boulevard

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

October 13 -- Nearly two weeks after a pedestrian was killed crossing Ocean Park Boulevard, City officials said they will seek to keep speed enforcement along the heavily traveled road adjacent to several schools a priority until longer-term solutions are put in place next year.

Several council members acknowledged they hear community concerns about accidents and close calls along the boulevard, roughly between 14th street and 25th street in the southeast section of Santa Monica.

And they urged City staff to speed up longer-term design solutions, which are expected to be brought back to the community for input by late December or early January.

“To whatever extent we can, we should make (the redesign) a higher priority that it has been,” said Council member Kevin McKeown. “We lose a couple of school kids at that corner, and that’s going to be hard to live with.”

City staff reported Tuesday that they have completed three out of four phases in redesigning the roadway – which is estimated to be traveled by 23,000 cars each day and is considered a major artery in and out of the City.

Now staff must return to the community for input on several options before beginning any lasting changes.

“We’re looking forward to having a meeting with the residents this fall or winter,” said Lucy Dyke, the City’s transportation planning manager.

In the meantime, City manager Lamont Ewell said he would seek to keep police enforcement -- including costly speed traps along the street -- a priority.

“I’ll speak personally with the police department tomorrow,” said Ewell. “I think just a heavier presence of police, until we come back with longer term solutions, will suffice.”

While staff testified their studies show that traffic accidents -- and the average speed of vehicles -- on Ocean Park Boulevard, have actually decreased over the years, council members said they are receiving such an overwhelming response from residents that action should still be taken.

“I know there are statistics and we need to look at this analytically…but the amount of issues that I hear about via email and via reports in the newspaper and stuff says to me there’s a problem,” said Council member Ken Genser.

Council member Richard Bloom – a resident of the neighborhood, known as Sunset Park, who brought the item before the Council Tuesday – said perhaps the data may, or may not, be giving an accurate picture of the situation.

“To some degree, I think we need to go on a certain amount of intuition,” Bloom said.

Although data collected during the $75,000 study conducted by the City -- whose thoroughness some residents questioned -- did not show an increase in speed or accidents, staff acknowledged that speed is an issue that will be addressed in one of three proposals that will be presented to the community.

The staff report said three long-term solutions – based also on suggestions made by the community last spring include the following:

• Modifying traffic controls at 16th and 18th Street to include full signal control;
  
• Reconfiguring Ocean Park Boulevard itself to include one through lane with intersection turn lanes (and either a median or bike lanes or angled parking) and;
  
• Reconfiguring Ocean Park Boulevard to include angled parking through some encroachment on to the adjacent field at John Adams Middle School.

Several years of work by the community residents and businesses – including extensive petition drives – have pushed the long-term changes along, many have said.

Despite concerns voiced by the community, Ocean Park Boulevard’s role as a major roadway in and out of the city may have delayed any changes, council members said.

“I think in part we have a fundamental conflict between the desire to keep Ocean Park a major artery -- with traffic moving quickly and keeping the pressure off cut-through traffic in adjacent neighborhoods -- and the fact that that stretch of Ocean park Boulevard has developed economically wonderfully…and it’s immediately adjacent to John Adams Middle School,” McKeown said.

Genser, too, noted that the boulevard is the only fast-moving road from the beach towards Los Angeles and communities to the east.

“This is one of the few streets that goes east-west in both directions, but really moves,” said Genser, noting that Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards are stop and go. “Ocean Park, by its nature, is one where people feel free to speed on.”

Although the short-term and long-term changes could lengthen commute times in the job-rich and housing-poor community of Santa Monica, something must be done for safety’s sake, Genser said.

“Traffic calming has a bad name for many in our community,” he said, “but we need to do something to slow down traffic here.”