Traffic Enhancements on City Council Agenda

Some east Hermosa Beach residents may get the stop signs they've petitioned for Tuesday night when City Council considers approval of new stop signs at 7th Place and Hollowell Avenue.

City staff is recommending Council approve the signs as well as approve measures recommended by the Public Works Commission to explore how to discourage cut-through traffic on Prospect Avenue and to enhance traffic control on Prospect according to a city staff report.

Area residents near 7th and Hollowell are concerned with sight distance and cut-through traffic, petitioning the city to make the intersection a three-way stop instead of the single stop sign it now offers.

A past petition effort led in the summer of 2011 to the installation of a single speed hump on 7th Place between Hollowell and Prospect to slow down drivers.

Those who've petitioned the city for the additional stop signs believe the single stop sign on Hollowell is not sufficient for drivers to see motorists approaching on 7th Place, where a stop sign does not exist. They cite traffic from Our Lady of Guadalupe school and drivers going from Redondo Beach to Hermosa and vice versa on 7th Place which turns into Havemeyer Lane in RB as the reasons for the additional two stop signs at Hollowell and 7th Place.

As for Prospect Avenue, the staff report explains that the stretch of road between 190th Street/Anita Avenue in RB to Aviation Boulevard has been a concern since 2002.

Most recently, at the Nov. 28 meeting of the Public Works Commission, residents impacted in the area of Prospect Ave. from 190th St. to Aviation Blvd. indicated a preference for increased traffic enforcement and stop sign compliance instead of speed humps, mini traffic circles, traffic diverters, chokers to narrow the street and turn restrictions.

To that end, the commission is recommending city council approve additional and replacement signage for that stretch of Prospect as well as restore traffic striping and legends.

The Prospect Ave. proposal includes a six-month pilot period to see how the new conditons affect traffic.

City Council will consider these traffic control measures and other items on its agenda Tues., Jan. 8 beginning at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, 1315 Valley Drive.