By Mary O’KEEFE

After accidents and speeding vehicles, residents in the Waltonia Drive and Park Place area may actually see a light at the end of the tunnel. And not just a light but also a traffic island as well.

Timothy Babich from the Los Angeles County Public Works Traffic and Lighting division spoke to the Crescenta Valley Town Council at last month’s meeting about some welcomed changes proposed for the area.

“Public works has prepared a preliminary plan for enhancing roadway striping at the intersection of Waltonia Drive and Park Place,” Babich said.

The plan is to extend the center line on Waltonia by 30 feet.  This extension will hopefully help motorists make turns a little wider, he said.

“[Drivers] could take the turn a lot wider. We know that one of the main concerns was vehicles turning right or left on Waltonia.  There were a lot of misses. We feel if we can extend the line it would force the drivers to make the turn safer,” Babich said.

Neighbors brought the problem of traffic on Waltonia Drive to the attention of the CV Town Council after Waltonia resident Liz Langford had her car hit, again, in January by a driver who apparently took a curve
too fast. Frustrated Langford approached CVTC Vice President Steve Goldsworthy who is on the public safety committee for help.

There had been traffic studies in the past but nothing had been done, Langford said.

Goldsworthy contacted both the California Highway Patrol and public works for assistance.

Officer Ming-Yang hsu had officers monitor traffic.  From a time period of 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. they issued 12 citations and impounded one vehicle.  None of the citations were for speeding the main problem, according to hsu, was drivers crossing the double yellow lines on Park Place.

Waltonia is often used as a short cut from Foothill Boulevard to Montrose.  From Foothill Boulevard the road curves down hill through a residential neighborhood.  The speed limit was 30 miles per hour however in an effort to help drivers navigate the downhill curves, the speed limit was lowered to 25 miles per hour.  Once again Officer hsu was out to monitor the speed change and to stop those who did not notice the reduced speed.

Babich and his crew studied the area and have made some suggestions on how to make the area safer. One suggestion that was well received by residence that attended the town council meeting was to establish a pedestrian island on Park Place at Waltonia Drive.

“The island would serve as a refuge for pedestrians waiting to cross,” he said. “We would need to shift the center line over about 10 feet and we would lose three to four parking spaces.”

He said he knew parking was also an issue and invited residents to comment on the changes.

Babich’s crew also found the need for more streetlights.  A total of 11 new streetlights have been proposed on Waltonia Drive, Luana Lane, Park Place and Crescent Avenue.

Babich added that Public Works would like input on the changes and invited residents to contact Jeff Chow at (626) 300-4753 or Robert Torres (626) 300-4768 for lighting questions.

The proposed changes are on the CVTC website at www.cvtowncouncil.comMore photos of the proposed areas and the complete list of street lamp locations are:

Fronting homes, Street light locations:

Street Light #1:                        1911 Waltonia Dr.

Street Light #2:                        1922 Waltonia Dr.

Street Light #3:                        3930 Park Place

Street Light #4:                        3907 Park Place

Street Light #5:                        1957 Waltonia Dr.

Street Light #6:                        1963 Waltonia Dr.

Street Light #7:                        2010 Crescenta Ave.

Street Light #8:                        2118 Waltonia Dr.

Street Light #9:                        2257 Waltonia Dr.

Street Light #10:                        2280 Luana Ln.

Street Light #11:                        2204 Waltonia Dr.

  traffic, Waltonia