By Mary O’KEEFE

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, Crescenta Valley Town Council hosted a traffic talk at the La Crescenta Library Community Room.

Julian Garcia, principal engineer, Los Angeles County Public Works, began the meeting by sharing updates on some of the concerns expressed by the public. But before he shared information he said that the process of traffic solutions in the area is a “large capital improvement project” that will require funding and scheduling.

“The initiation has started,” he said, and “the analysis is completed.”

Some of the recommended improvements included a traffic signal at Altura and Ramsdell avenues, the installation of a stop sign and crosswalk at Glenwood and Prospect avenues, speed cushions installed on Community Avenue between Cloud and Ramsdell avenues, and U-turn restrictions on Orange Avenue between El Adobe Lane and Rosemont Avenue.

“As [the project] moves forward I want to manage those expectations because it does have to be funded and scheduled,” he said.

The recommendation for a crosswalk at Glenwood and Prospect will trigger some ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements including adding curb ramps, he said.

Also three speed cushions were recently installed on Community Avenue between Cloud and Ramsdell.

Garcia explained that some of the requests had been made years ago; however, projects like adding a stop sign at Glenwood and Prospect is governed by certain warrants that have to be met having to do with traffic conditions and volumes. And the initial study found those warrants were not met.

He added LA County Public Works has amended the guidelines to expand the eligibility of different intersections, particularly those in front of schools. Those guidelines were updated earlier this year, which allowed the recommendation of the stop sign.

Traffic requests that were denied under the old guidelines are now being looked at under the new guidelines, he explained.

John Chebabi, senior civil engineer assistant at Public Works, shared a diagram on the plan for proposed improvements along Raymond Avenue between Stevens Street and Los Olivos Lane.

“We want to look at implementing a multi-way stop control at the intersection of Los Olivos Lane and Raymond Avenue,” he said.

Public Works would like to put the multi-way stop for the eastbound traffic along Los Olivos Lane and for the southbound traffic along Raymond Avenue.

“The next improvement that we’d like to propose are No U-turn signs on the east side of Raymond Avenue,” Chebabi said.

He then pointed to the Rosemont Middle School field that is on the backside of the school.

“This is where most parents drop off their kids, which is on the east side of Raymond Avenue. During my field reviews of the pick up and drop off hours, we had noticed that cars would kind of pull up to the east side and then quickly do U-turns [after dropping their child off] to go southbound and then catch Los Olivos Lane. So these new No U-turn signs should help minimize that,” he said.

The next proposed implementation is edge line striping and center line striping along Raymond Avenue between Stevens Street and Los Olivos Lane.

“The edge line and center line will just help with the overall traffic flow along Raymond Avenue,” he said.

These proposals were shared with the public at the meeting to ensure its support. For the most part support was given but most was directed to Public Works since it was moving forward with action items to deal with traffic issues rather than extended to the specific improvements.

One community member shared his frustrations at the timelines for these improvements. He said he had been requesting traffic improvements for years and attended meetings but nothing was done as more studies occurred.

Public Works representatives said all of the improvements had to go before the LA County Board of Supervisors; some of those improvements would go before them in December. For the resident it just seemed to add another layer of delay.

Other residents who live on or near Altura and Ramsdell voiced concern that not enough is being done to curb traffic. These residents shared stories of parents and others dropping off or picking up kids at the high school and blocking driveways, making U-turns in the middle of the street and speeding. Most of the residents in this particular area did not feel that a traffic signal at Altura would help at all and, in fact, may cause more issues as drivers race to “beat the light.”

There were more suggestions of new striping that might make drivers realize they need to stay in their lane when driving; however, the bottom line for many of these residents was that resolving traffic issues near the schools had be a joint effort between law enforcement, the school and parent/student drivers.

Many shared stories of near misses and traffic violations including drivers who double parked on both sides of the street leaving only one lane in the middle of the road for northbound and southbound drivers. It is hoped that this issue may be helped by installing a center line down the street. This would also help law enforcement point out vehicles that are straddling lanes.

Residents stated the No U-turn signs are good for enforcement but when neither California Highway Patrol nor LA Sheriff Dept. are on-site nothing will stop the parents/drivers from making turns in the middle of the street during the busiest hours.

There was a lot of frustration shared by residents, parents and law enforcement as they tried to work out what could be done.

CVTC member Harry Leon said it will take everyone working together to find a solution, including schools reaching out to parents and students who drive.

Next week find out what students think of the traffic concerns near their schools.