When the Spring Street contra-flow bus lane was removed a year or two ago, Main Street received a new bus-only lane, which operates at rush hours. At that time, the city also added a crosswalk push button at the Main Street crosswalk at Winston Street, between 4th & 5th Streets. Prior to its installation, the pedestrian signal was automatic with the timed change of the traffic light. Now pedestrians do not get a walk signal unless the button is pressed.

On this part of Main Street, except at rush hours, pedestrians outnumber cars. Yet the Department of Transportation seems to believe that cars should have priority at all times. In my opinion, this is bad policy, especially in light of recent efforts to encourage pedestrian scale development and a vibrant urban core. This push button discourages the use of the crosswalk, and invites jaywalking when the wait time is long or unpredictable.

In other parts of downtown, there are push button activated crosswalks, but the vast majority of them are mid-block crossings. They are usually located on very long blocks in the Historic Core, as well as at City Hall, in Chinatown, and at Olvera Street. Those crossings do also require that the button be pressed, and sometimes the wait times are long. In addition, the car traffic gets a flashing red, not a solid red. This allows cars to proceed after a full stop. While not ideal, I don’t really mind these types of crosswalks, because they do not involve side streets, and the pedestrian demand is somewhat low.

Bringing The Issue To The City

I requested a meeting with Stephanie Magnien of Councilmember Jan Perry’s office to discuss the Main/Winston crosswalk, and she graciously offered to meet me at the intersection in question at 3 pm on Tuesday, April 22. Present also were Greg Fischer of Perry’s office, and 2 people from the City Department of Transportation to examine the functioning of the signal.

I explained how I felt that this was an example of traffic policy favoring cars over people. The DOT reps took the time to measure how long it took to get a walk signal, and at the time of day of this meeting, it was quite short. But at other times of day, the timing is not so good. I have waited as long as 3 light cycles to get the walk signal. In addition, if a car approaches the intersection from Winston, a sensor activates the light to change, but does not activate the walk signal. The DOT folks explained that they had recently adjusted the timing of the intersection, with the intention of improving the wait times, but they did not feel that it was reasonable to expect to get a walk signal if a car triggered the light, because the red light (on Main) would be slightly longer in that case. They asked me to request feedback from the community, to see if they feel it works sufficiently now.

How To Have Your Voice Heard On This Issue

In my conversations with the residents and business owners on the block, I have found that everyone I have spoken to has expressed the desire to restore the automated functioning of the crosswalk (removing the push button entirely). Since Downtown is already the most pedestrian friendly part of LA, the last thing we need is to discourage this.

Stephanie requested that we give it some more time, and to report back to her after June 1st as to the preferences of the community. In the meantime, I’d love to get people’s feedback about this. Email me at crosswalk@bgfa.us with your comments, and please include your name and street address. I encourage everyone who is so inclined to give me your opinion on this. I will present the results of this informal survey to Stephanie. Our community requested Jan Perry’s help to get Second Street’s widening stopped by demanding a more livable city. Please let our City Council know that these issues are important to us.

New to Downtown LA? angelenic.com is the neighborhood resource for those living, working and visiting Downtown Los Angeles.

Sign up for our RSS feed or email feed to receive angelenic in your inbox every morning!

Related reading:

1. pedestrian improvements come to chinatown/el pueblo
2. new coffee chain starts life in downtown, hours up for discussion
3. usc animation project gives life to dead retail
4. signs of life at new wokcano restaurant