By David Coffin
It was perfectly clear that Sepulveda widening was on the minds of our community when over 800 people turned out to say NO to the project. City planners had expected only about 100 to show.  The meeting was a chance for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation ( LADOT) to present it's plan to our community for input. Their plan had included widening Sepulveda to 8 lanes from Centinela on the north to Lincoln on the south. The plan would have created high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to move more traffic, rip out the Fichus trees that give the street it's character. They also had in the plan new signage, stamped asphalt crosswalks and signals. LADOT insisted that the plan was not to facilitate airport traffic.

After their presentation, Westchester offered it's own. Local resident Kent Strumpell came prepared with an elaborate presentation that offered numerous alternative plans to the LADOT designated 'super highway'. Kent noted that widening was not good for residents or downtown businesses and was a serious safety hazard everyone including children, bicyclists. 

A Westport mother told us how she had to drive her children to school because crossing Sepulveda on their own was simply to dangerous for her kids. Kent showed us other alternative ideas, including those from other communities that would manage traffic better and make the street more community friendly. Kent's ideas were warmly received by residents and businesses alike.

The results of that community meeting in the week following the town hall meeting had Ruth Galanter bring a motion before the Los Angeles City Council that was approved 13-1 to kill further plans to widen Sepulveda Blvd.  Still the LADOT had millions of dollars set aside to develop the boulevard and our community was confronted with the choice of  'use it or lose it'. Out of that, a unique partnership between the community and the LADOT called the Sepulveda Task Force was created to determine how to redevelop Sepulveda so that vehicular traffic would flow more smoothly through it and still respect the community it slices through.

The community and city transportation officials came together with ideas on how to redevelop the thoroughfare and on March 23 they presented some of those ideas in a public forum. Out of that forum a new picture of Sepulveda was shown. The eight lanes are gone and the primary emphasis will be on the stretch of Sepulveda that's part of the business district between Manchester and Lincoln. The new emphasis is now on better managing the flow of traffic better. There will be improvements north of Manchester as well, but those improvements will be what LADOT calls 'traffic calming' improvements.

The New Plan will not add any new traffic lanes in either direction but instead the plan will add full time parking by reducing the width of the sidewalks by 6 feet. Today there is no parking along the curb during the morning and evening rush hours. When parking is allowed during off-peak hours, it creates a bottleneck that slows traffic and contributes to traffic accidents. Adding the parking lanes will not appreciably lengthen the walk across the street for pedestrians because another feature will be included called 'Sidewalk Bumpouts'. (see photo renditions below) Sidewalk Bumpouts both shorten the distance of the crosswalk and help to protect parked cars from the traffic making it somewhat safer to enter your parked car from the drivers side.

Sepulveda - Manchester and to the south No new through traffic lanes will be built along Sepulveda. It will be 3 lanes, north and south plus the left turn lane. This is currently what is now when far right lanes are cleared of parking in the morning and late afternoons.  New parking lanes will be created by narrowing the wide sidewalks by 6 feet on each side of the street. Trees will be moved back as well. 'Sidewalk Bumpouts' would be used to minimize the length of crosswalks and to protect the parking lanes making it safer and less intimidating for shoppers to park their cars on the street. An idea also floated that WestchesterKids like is the idea of a right turn from northbound Lincoln on to Sepulveda Westway, a street that currently does not go through to give access to the business district. This would enable people in vehicles to access businesses on the west side of the street (Ralph's, In and Out, Petco, etc) by making an easy right turn and entering the store parking lots from Sepulveda Westway.

Altered photograph depicts some of the ideas that are being developed between community and LADOT. Note 'Sidewalk bumpouts' (lower left and upper right street corners), plants and trees on the center median. left hand turn lane

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