Message from Council Member Marqueec Harris
My team and I continue working on ways to make our streets safer and more accessible for residents across Council District 8. Western Avenue is a key transportation corridor with high daily traffic volume and high public transportation ridership. It holds a variety of assets on or within ½ mile of it including six parks, 25 schools, 50 churches, and dozens of small businesses. We have the opportunity to transform Western Ave into a safe, accessible, and pedestrian-friendly street that allows thousands of residents to easily access school, church, work, and a wealth of community assets along the corridor.
LA’s Department of Transportation (LADOT) Vision Zero Team is proposing traffic safety improvements along a 4.5-mile stretch of Western Ave between MLK and Century Blvd. This project was initially slated to cover just Slauson to Century. However, we worked with LADOT to expand the project further north to include MLK and serve more stakeholders. Western Ave is a key transportation corridor for CD8 and the City with high daily traffic volume and high public transportation ridership. Over 15,325 bus rides are taken on Western Ave between MLK and Century Blvd every day.
Transportation equity is a matter of life and death. Western Ave is an example of systemic disinvestment that we live every day. The street began as one of LA’s thoroughfares and has become one of the most dangerous streets for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Western Ave is on the Vision Zero High-Injury Network (HIN). It has some of the highest concentrations of serious crashes with a high number of vehicle-related accidents and deaths. Between 2015 and 2019, 16 fatalities occurred on Western Ave between MLK and Century Blvd. Slauson / Western is one of the most dangerous intersections in the entire city, and the stretch south of Slauson saw 15 vehicle-related deaths, with the vast majority south of Florence.
This transportation project is the beginning of the continued revitalization of the corridor. By driving additional attention and resources to Western Ave, we can make it safer to live, work and play here. Of course, we can’t accomplish this without your help. Take this survey and help us transform Western Ave for future generations!
SouthLA 