The City of West Hollywood installed five new high-visibility crosswalks that aim to increase pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular safety on Fountain Avenue.
Driving on Fountain Avenue rather than Sunset, Hollywood, or Santa Monica Boulevards is a well known shortcut through the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. When Johnny Carson asked Bette Davis what was “the best way an aspiring starlet could get into Hollywood,” she infamously responded: “Take Fountain.”
Taking Fountain Avenue tends to put cars and pedestrians at close proximity. With safety in mind, the City’s Department of Public Works added five new high-visibility striped crosswalks to Fountain Avenue at: N. Harper Avenue; Havenhurst Drive; N. Hayworth Avenue; N. Formosa Avenue; and N. Detroit Street. The crosswalks feature small refuge islands in the center of the road in order to reduce the exposure of pedestrians crossing and increase motorist awareness of pedestrians crossing. The islands are marked with bright yellow paddle signs, which face lanes of traffic.
Additional safety treatments include bulb-outs at intersection corners to reduce crossing distances and enhance pedestrian safety, as well as selected right-turn-only signs in order to reduce potential conflict points. In the upcoming weeks, pavement-embedded lights will be added to the edges of the new crosswalks in order to enhance visibility.
The City of West Hollywood has also installed several new signalized pedestrian crosswalks along Santa Monica Boulevard and has added bicycle lanes on Fairfax Avenue. The City has installed solar-powered radar speed indicator signs along Fountain Avenue and on N. San Vicente Boulevard in order to remind drivers to drive within the speed limit, and additional radar speed indicator signs will be installed on N. Doheny Drive in the coming weeks. In addition, trailer-mounted Electronic Variable Message Signs have been placed at key locations within the City to encourage drivers to slow down and abide by posted speed limits.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies from the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station regularly issue citations for speeding, handheld phone calls, texting while driving, throwing waste out of moving vehicles, driving without headlights, illegal turns, not stopping for pedestrians in the crosswalk, and jaywalking, among other infractions.
For more information, please call the City of West Hollywood’s Department of Public Works at (323) 848-6375 or Public Safety Department at (323) 848-6414.
