Feb 15, 2008 2:43 am US/Pacific
Villaraigosa: Pico And Olympic To Go One-Way Only
LOS ANGELES
Despite local opposition to the plan, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has ordered transportation officials to implement a plan to make Pico Boulevard mostly one-way eastbound and Olympic Boulevard mostly one-way westbound, it was reported Friday.
The plan had stalled earlier in the week at a City Council meeting, but the mayor chose to go ahead with it. Under the plan parking would be forbidden on all but a few stretches of Pico and Olympic during rush hour beginning March 8, the Los Angeles Times reported.
By April 28, traffic signals would be adjusted so that they favor faster eastbound traffic on Pico and westbound traffic on Olympic, The Times reported.
After six months to a year, the two streets probably would be restriped so that Pico would have four lanes going east and two going west, while Olympic would have the opposite: four lanes going west and two going east, a spokesman for the mayor told The Times.
Local businesses and residents had voiced concerns that the changes would harm shops and restaurants by making it impossible for customers to park. On Wednesday, Councilmen Bill Rosendahl and Herb Wesson said they might remove their districts from the proposal because of these concerns, The Times reported.
Backed by Westside Councilman Jack Weiss, the mayor Thursday overrode the council's Transportation Committee, which had postponed action on the plan.
Villaraigosa said through a spokesman that the council did not have jurisdiction over such issues as parking regulations or whether streets were one-way, according to The Times.
The project initially was to have run from the Santa Monica city limits to La Brea Avenue, but the idea now is for it to end at Fairfax Avenue -- a reduction of more than a mile, according to The Times.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
