7260 Board Hosts
 Neighborhood Traffic Roundtable

August 23, 2005
 

Tuesday evening, August 23, the 7260 Board of Directors hosted a Traffic Roundtable for the residents of Tract 7260. Neighbors gathered in a public room at the Westside Pavilion to hear a presentation of the traffic issues facing all of us, now and in the immediate future. Board President Mike Eveloff summarized the situation with a PowerPoint presentation (posted in the archives section), and then fielded questions and suggestions from those assembled. The purpose of the meeting was to gather the specific traffic concerns of our neighbors so that we may incorporate them into the list of traffic mitigations we are currently seeking, and will pursue in the immediate future.

Causes of Traffic Problems in Tract 7260

• Overdevelopment

Approximately two million square feet of commercial and residential space is being built or is currently unoccupied in Century City. That figure represents an additional 15 to 30 thousand cars that we can expect to enter and leave Century City each day on our neighboring streets when the projects are completed and the space is occupied.

• Residential Densification

The increased development of larger, multi-unit buildings in the neighborhood brings in more cars to park overnight and more visitors to park on narrow neighborhood streets.

• Santa Monica Transit Parkway Project/Construction Phase
  The disruption created by the SMB project has forced many cars into our area.
   

• Santa Monica Transit Parkway Project/Post-Construction Phase
  The board, in conjunction with its traffic experts, is projecting the impacts of the Santa Monica project on our area.  Impacts could be significant.
   

• Motor Avenue
  The Motor Avenue mitigations have disrupted traffic patterns throughout the area.  This includes the Beverly Glen/Pico intersection.  Congestion at this intersection has been identified as a cause of cut-through traffic in the southern tract.

The significant increase in the volume of traffic is straining the capacity of the Tract’s arterial perimeter boulevards, causing cut-through traffic and speeding through neighborhood streets. Safety and quality of life are significantly impacted in streets closest to the “problem areas” of favorite cut-through streets. As the traffic increases, the impacted areas will increase to include more of the neighborhood.

The 7260 Board has been actively addressing these traffic issues for years. But the combination of the Santa Monica Boulevard Project and the various Century City developments has created a “perfect storm” of problems for our neighborhood that calls for an expanded traffic mitigation strategy and an aggressive plan for implementing it.

The strategy pursues three goals:

1.      Shift non-residential traffic away from residential streets.

2.      Identify incentives for cut-through traffic and remove them.

3.      Avoid shifting one street’s problems to another street.

The implementation plan involves the 7260 Association’s continuing use of our relationships and record of accomplishment with local government officials and, when necessary, the courts, to obtain mitigations.  Members support these efforts with dues that help pay for attorneys, accountants and traffic engineers.

Summary of Traffic Problems in the Neighborhood

Mike Eveloff’s PowerPoint presentation, which is posted on this site, details the key traffic problems presented at the meeting, using maps and graphics to describe them. The summaries below include observations and suggestions made by neighbors at the meeting.

South of Olympic

Most of the southern Tract’s traffic problems come from cut-through traffic off of Pico Boulevard.  Cut-through paths identified are:

• Westbound Pico to Fox Hills

• Eastbound Pico to Kerwood to avoid the Pico/Beverly Glen intersection

• Traffic from Pico businesses on the north side of the street between Fox Hills and Beverly Glen.

The Tract Board has been in pursuit for years of a left turn arrow at Eastbound Pico and Northbound Beverly Glen to make that turn easier, and decrease the need to turn north into the Tract. We actually expect our efforts to yield fruit in the next few months with the installation of the arrow.

Suggested Mitigations

·        Pico

Have streets from the tract be egress-only (southbound).  This would be just north of the alley so businesses would still have full access.  This would prevent all incoming traffic from Pico.

·        Olympic

Have streets into the tract be ingress-only, thus eliminating the incentive to use our area as a cut-through to Olympic.

North of Olympic

The northern part of the Tract experiences considerably more adverse traffic impact than the southern part, due to its proximity to the Santa Monica Boulevard Project and Century City. The key problems are:

1. Benecia from Olympic to Santa Monica has become an all-too-popular route for drivers heading to the office buildings on Santa Monica and/or to Century City.  Traffic and speed issues have increased dramatically.

2. Fox Hills from Olympic to Santa Monica is a favorite route to the 1801 Century Park West building and Century City.  Traffic tends to cut up through La Grange, Mississippi or streets closer to Olympic to gain access to Fox Hills.

3. Interior streets such as La Grange are seeing increased cut-through for the same reasons.

4. Increased traffic on Beverly Glen makes it ever more difficult for the condo owners on Beverly Glen to get in and out of their garages.

Cut-Through Incentives

The primary sources of cut-through traffic are:

1. The building on the corner of Santa Monica and Beverly Glen. 
   This building has its driveway on the alley south of Santa Monica.  The alley is one-way from Benecia to Beverly Glen, making the only access to the building from Benecia.  Drivers frequently ignore the one-way sign when leaving the building to cut-through Benecia.

2. The building on the corner of Santa Monica and Benecia.
   This building has its driveway on Benecia.  This also makes Benecia the only way in or out of the building. 

3. The building at 1801 Century Park West.
   This building has its main tenant entrance on Fox Hills.

4. Century City Access
   Drivers cut through the northern tract via interior streets to get from Olympic or Beverly Glen to Century City without having to deal with the Santa Monica/Beverly Glen intersection.

5. Future access to other Santa Monica businesses
   The association expects redevelopment to occur on Santa Monica between Benecia and Fox Hills.  This would create new sources of cut-through traffic.

Suggested Mitigations

1. Change Fox Hills to one-way northbound between the alley and Missouri.  This would prevent the use of our area by 1801 Century Park West occupants and by Santa Monica Blvd traffic.

2. Change Benecia to one-way southbound between the alley and Missouri. 
   This would eliminate the incentive for building occupants to use our area.

3. In conjunction with #2 above, eliminate the one-way restriction on the alley between Beverly Glen and Benecia.

4. At the intersection of eastbound Beverly Glen and northbound Benecia, have a “Keep Intersection Clear” sign painted on the street.

5. Add speed limit signage on both the street and light poles on Benecia.

6. Investigate renting “speed cart” digital radar signs to rotate to speeding trouble spots like Benecia and Fox Hills.

7. Investigate the possibility of a stop sign at the intersection of Benecia and Louisiana.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Traffic Roundtable is the latest step in the 7260 Board’s efforts at traffic mitigation. We will add the input from the meeting to our plans. Within two to eight weeks, the 7260 Board intends to:

1. Consult traffic engineers about our problems and proposed solutions.

2. Post this information on our website for review and comment by our neighbors.

3. Review the various available mitigation options and decide on a specific list of mitigation requests to city officials and agencies. We will continue to use all legal resources and remedies available to succeed in our efforts.

4. Put our plans in writing, and distribute them to the membership of the Tract Association for a vote.

5. Seek agreement with our plans from the required percentage of residents (whether they’re Tract Association members or not) within two blocks of each proposed mitigation.