The Signal Hill City Council agreed Tuesday, Sept. 14, to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) to design plans to help relieve traffic congestion on Willow Street between Cherry and Walnut avenues.
In a traffic impact analysis, the City found that traffic can exceed capacity between the two intersections during peak hours, resulting in congestion. Drivers must navigate through several signal cycles to move through that area.
Under the MOU, LA Metro will design traffic-relief measures for the 0.3-mile stretch of Willow Street—especially at the intersections with Cherry and Walnut avenues—and conduct an environmental impact analysis of the project.
The LA Metro Board during its July 22 meeting approved funding the $1.3 million cost of that work using proceeds from the County’s Measure R, which increased sales taxes by a half cent in 2008 to fund transportation improvements.
The City will approve the design plans before they are expected to be finalized in spring 2023, according to Public Works Contracts Manager Thomas Bekele. However, the City will have to seek funding for the project’s actual construction.
The proposed project will add new right-turn lanes on Willow Street to Cherry Avenue in both eastbound and westbound directions. The project will also add a second left-turn lane from northbound Cherry Avenue to westbound Willow Street.
Bekele said the project will result in other improvements, such as new traffic signal poles and better signal synchronization. However, it will reduce median sizes, curb widths and sidewalks to accommodate the new turning lanes.
The project will also create protected left-turn lanes from Willow Street to Walnut Avenue from both the street’s eastbound and westbound sides.
One resident, identified only as Douglas, commented that he lives near the intersection of Willow Street and Walnut Avenue and sees a lot of traffic accidents there. He also said the intersection’s lanes are not lined up straight, which Bekele said the project would address by adjusting the median.
The project is part of LA Metro’s larger I-710 Corridor Improvement Project intended to reduce delays and improve traffic flow and safety on arteries linked to the 710 Freeway. Willow Street serves as an alternate route from the 710 to the 405 Freeway and Pacific Coast Highway and links the 710 and 605 freeways.
The council unanimously approved entering the MOU with LA Metro.
“This looks like my favorite project ever,” Councilmember Robert Copeland said of the project’s local traffic-relieving capacity.
