Council Approves Extensive Crosswalk Program

Mirror staff

The good news is that the City Council approved an extensive crosswalk program Tuesday night. The bad news is that the crosswalks won't actually be in place until March 2001.

According to the staff recommendation, "A full design and construction process, including competitive bidding for both design and construction, will take approximately 21 months to complete.

"Council member Ken Genser seemed to be speaking for a great many people when he questioned the lengthy time frame for the project, which, as he suggested, amounts to painting stripes on pavement.

Both the usually unflappable Panning Director Suzanne Frick and Craig Perkins, director of the Environmental and Public Works Management Department, seemed to take umbrage at Genser's light-hearted characterization of the project, and assured him that they were moving as fast as they could. Council member Richard Bloom and City Manager John Jalili both suggested that accelerating this project might inevitably delay another project.

Ultimately, the Council asked Staff to look into the possibility of speeding up the process and approved "Crosswalk Enhancements for Montana Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Neilson Way and Barnard Way," authorized the staff toprepare construction drawings and authorized Jalili to negotiate and execute an "Amendment to the Pedestrian Crosswalk Enhancements Development and Design Contract" to begin the Phase II Study for Wilshire, Santa Monica, Broadway and Ocean Park Boulevards.

" General recommendations for the project include the use of a zebra-stripe pattern to increase visibility, the upgrade of all "signalized" locations with large pedestrian push buttons and information placards, the addition pf "Ped Xing" markings in the pavement in advance of uncontrolled crosswalks, the painting of crosswalks near schools yellow rather than white, the installation of new or repositioned handicap ramps adjacent to new crosswalks and the placement of at least two pedestrian crossing signs at every uncontrolled crosswalk.

Every intersection on Montana between Seventh and Seventeenth Streets will have crosswalks. In addition, curb extensions will be installed at all four corners of Tenth, Twelfth, Euclid, Fifth and Sixteenth Streets and on the west side of Ninth Street.

Certain "enhancements" are recommended for the residential stretches on Montana, west of Seventh and east of Seventeenth. The three-way intersection at Montana and Twenty-first Street, where a young girl was killed not long ago, will get an in-pavement flasher which can be activated by pedestrians. On Ocean, the intersections at San Vicente and California will be re-configured and crosswalks will be added at all the uncontrolled intersections between Georgina and Washington.

At the southern end of Ocean/Barnard Way, crosswalks will be installed at Bay, Bicknell, Pacific, Strand, Wadsworth, mid-way between Hart and Fraser, Hollister and Ocean Park, and three full traffic signals will be installed on Neilson Way at Bay, Pacific and Strand. Estimated cost for all the recommended "enhancements" is $1.65 million. Funding of $1.2 million is included in the FY 1999-00 capital improvements budget.