City of West Hollywood will implement an all-pedestrian phase interval at Santa Monica Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard, on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., beginning Thursday, June 27. The exclusive all-pedestrian phase at this intersection will temporarily stop all vehicular traffic in all directions allowing pedestrians to cross. This is the city’s ongoing effort to enhance pedestrian safety and improve traffic flow.
A city report states that the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard is the most trafficked pedestrian intersection in the City during these evening hours, accommodating up to 2,000 pedestrians per hour.
During the initial period of the rollout, Deputies from the West Hollywood Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will be assigned to the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard to monitor and enhance safety and to answer questions from pedestrians.
“Developing an interval uniquely for pedestrians for this intersection is a creative solution that responds to the exceptional density in this area of West Hollywood,” said West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico. “During the day the intersection will maximize vehicular green-light timing, which is aimed at helping cars move as rapidly as possible. But, during nighttime after 10 p.m. on the three nights per week that this spot experiences the highest volume of pedestrians, this intersection will offer all-pedestrian crossing with a red light in all directions for vehicles. This is another West Hollywood Smart City approach for enhancing pedestrian safety.”
“I’m excited that our City is embracing new ways of engineering pedestrian safety into this highly trafficked intersection,” said Mayor Pro Tempore Lindsey P. Horvath. “This follows a variety of pedestrian-safety improvements throughout West Hollywood during the past few years. As a City, we’re committed to making sure we do whatever we can to make West Hollywood walkable, safe, and accessible. We will be monitoring the effect of improvements at the intersection and if we see that this is a successful effort, then this can serve as a model for additional major-intersection pedestrian-safety enhancements throughout the City.
The City of West Hollywood, in developing a nighttime all-pedestrian phase interval for the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard, seeks to add an additional layer of pedestrian safety by eliminating all vehicle movement at the intersection at the times that pedestrian volume is the highest. During the day and on lower-volume nights when the intersection has a lower pedestrian count, the intersection will function with standard crosswalks, which will offer longer periods of green lights for vehicles in order to ensure traffic flow at commute hours while still regarding pedestrian safety.
Intersection improvements are part of the City’s continuous commitment to explore a mix of measures to address safety. The constant movement of dense vehicular traffic and pedestrians in close proximity is an ongoing challenge not only in West Hollywood but in cities across the nation. The nighttime all-pedestrian phase interval intersection joins a variety of improvements as part of comprehensive plan with three unique areas to improve pedestrian safety: Engineering, Enforcement, and Education.
For additional information about the City of West Hollywood’s efforts to improve pedestrian safety, please call the City of West Hollywood’s Department of Public Works at (323) 848-6375.
