Yellow pylons were installed on Rossmore Avenue in Hancock Park. (photo by Edwin Folven)
Bright yellow plastic pylons appeared on Rossmore Avenue last week as part of a city of Los Angeles improvement project aimed at reducing speeding and promoting safety between Beverly Boulevard and Sixth Street. Bollards Parking
In February, Rossmore Avenue was restriped with double yellow lines in the center prohibiting passing and a white line on each side designating a parking lane along the curb. The pylons, officially called bollards, were installed two months later as part of the same project.
“The new traffic interventions on Rossmore were added as a design feature to reduce speeding, which is a major concern of mine and many residents in the community,” said Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, 5th District. “In Los Angeles last year, we had 312 individuals who died from traffic violence. These design features make our streets safer for pedestrians and for other drivers by discouraging dangerous behavior that puts our lives at risk.”
The lane restriping and bollard installation was completed by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. The restriping involves bump-outs, which are places were the lines are slightly wavy narrowing the road to cue drivers to slow down. The bollards are installed at different locations in the center of double yellow lines, essentially creating a median. The double yellow lines are broken with dashes where motorists are allowed to turn into and out of driveways. Otherwise, left turns and passing are prohibited on Rossmore Avenue.
Hancock Park Homeowners Association president Cindy Chvatal-Keane said there was an increase in speeding on Rossmore Boulevard during the pandemic and residents asked for the city to implement safety improvements. A few years passed while the project went through the city process and by the time the lanes were painted and the bollards were installed, it came as somewhat of a surprise. Chvatal said she thought the city was installing reflective pavement markers similar to freeway lane markers, as opposed to the pylon-like bollards.
“I got emails immediately asking what was going on, and I started tracking down what happened. The LADOT determined they were the most effective to reduce speeding down Rossmore,” Chvatal-Keane said. “We want people to slow down, but we wish they were more aesthetically-pleasing. In a residential neighborhood, they are pretty ‘prominent,’ let’s say.”
Kim Huffman Cary, who has lived on Rossmore Avenue between Third and Sixth streets for 26 years, said she was surprised to see the bright-yellow bollards in the street in front of her home. She acknowledged that speeding is a problem and said she has seen people disregard the striping for the parking lane and veer around other drivers waiting to turn left into driveways.
“People will still find a way to speed. They speed by in the parking lane and merge back into traffic. I’ve also seen a lot more back-up and idling in front of my house,” she said. “I would love … if we had a designated protected turn lane in the middle. I would love if we could do something like on Highland or Larchmont, and put in a planter.”
The crosswalk on Highland Avenue at Eighth Street was installed by the city after it was proposed by the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council and Transportation Committee member Julie Stromberg. (photo by Julie Stromberg)
Chvatal-Keane also called attention to a new crosswalk that the city recently installed across Highland Avenue at Eighth Street, a busy stretch between Wilshire and Olympic boulevards. It was proposed by the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council and Brookside resident Julie Stromberg, who serves on the GWNC’s Transportation Committee. Stromberg said the new crosswalk improves safety and will also increase pedestrian access from the east to Metro’s Wilshire/La Brea subway station, which is scheduled to open in late 2024. She added that she was elated to see the crosswalk had been installed.
“This is a walking neighborhood with a lot of children and pets, and nobody stops for you at Eighth and Highland. There have also been a series of car accidents at that intersection, three or four a year,” Stromberg said. “We want people to go green and be sustainable and use alternative forms of transportation, and this crosswalk helps them do that.”
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