Letter: Washington Boulevard Crosswalk Redux

The following letter was submitted to Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper in response to an interoffice City memo Mr. Cooper sent in response to a query about the validity of a crosswalk on Washington Boulevard, after a pedestrian was hit by a Culver City police car.

Please click on the PDF to the right of this letter to read the interoffice memo.

Dear Mr. Cooper,

Thank you for forwarding the interoffice memo written by Charles D. Herbertson, Director of Public Works/City Engineer, regarding the possible crosswalk on Washington Boulevard between Elenda Street and Tilden Avenue.

While Mr. Herbertson makes a valid argument concerning the possibility of elementary school students using the proposed pedestrian crosswalk rather than the guarded crosswalk at Elenda Street, I find much fault with his opinions on the volume of traffic on Huron and Tilden, and on the volume of pedestrian crossing on days other than Friday.

He stated: "Heavy pedestrian activity for the Mosque tends to be concentrated primarily on Fridays with few crossings on other days"

I would like to see data from actual surveys conducted in this specific area of Washington Boulevard, rather than relying on Mr. Herbertson's opinion or personal observations. My personal observation on a daily basis is that pedestrians regularly cross on Washington throughout the day between Huron Avenue and Prospect Street. And it's not just people going to the Mosque.

 In regards to his comparison to the pedestrian signal installed at Washington Boulevard and Boise Avenue, he cites two factors for installing the crosswalk in this location:

1.   It's 1832 feet between the next closest traffic signals between Wade Street and Centinela Avenue.
2.   "...The new popular restaurants located in this area, the number of pedestrian crossings met the warrant for a pedestrian signal."

First of all, it's always been 1832 feet between Wade and Centinela without that crosswalk, for as long as there have been traffic signals in Culver City at Wade and Centinela. Probably 75 years or more.

The new restaurants Mr. Herbertson refers to are A Frame and Waterloo & City, both of which have their own parking lots. There is no way that the intersection of Boise and Washington receives the required, "40 pedestrian crossings over a two hour period on a normal day."

Obviously there are valid points to be made on both sides of this debate, but there is no denying that this section of Washington between Tilden and Elenda is a nightmare for both motorists and pedestrians.

We know that the City is redesigning the intersections of Tilden/Harter/Washington as a result of the Tilden Terrace development. Why not expand the scope of the redesign to encompass as far east on Washington as the Mosque? Surely the traffic engineers can figure out a way to provide safe crossing for pedestrians in this area at the same time that the intersection at Tilden Terrace is redesigned.

Thank you,

George Marsh

Tilden Avenue resident

Editor’s note: Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.

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