The award winning MOVE project was approved by the Culver City Council to be reconfigured, changing the separate bus and bike lane into one combined lane, and restoring a second lane for ‘general purpose traffic.’
The council went ahead with the plan to change the project, despite both the recent accolade from CalTrans, naming the MOVE Culver City project “Top Honors For Excellence” and the successful data from the city’s own studies of it’s two-year pilot. The city’s study of MOVE as of November 2023 showed that the project had increased the use of public transit and both pedestrian and bicycle use, and that businesses downtown were increasing in profitability.
The decision to return a second lane of traffic to the 1.9 mile corridor from Culver and Duquesne to La Cienega and Fairfax was made on a three to two split, with Mayor Albert Vera, Jr., Council member Dan O’Brien and Council member Goran Eriksson voting in favor.
The 1.9 mile corridor from Culver and Duquesne now extends to Washington and Fairfax, and this stretch will have the bus and bike lanes folded in together to create more room for auto traffic. Separate bike lanes will also be installed on Adams Blvd. to connect with the bike lanes installed by the City of Los Angeles.
Diana Chang, the city’s Chief Transportation Officer, gave the staff report. “Right turn lanes are to be added at Culver and Main, Culver and Irving, and at Culver/Washington/Watseka. The design also calls for two additional cargo loading zones, one at Culver and Canfield (eastbound) and the other at Culver and Cardiff (eastbound,) increasing the number of cargo loading zones in the downtown corridor to a total of eight. “
The intersection at Main and Culver will be changed to a ‘pedestrian scramble’ with a signal to create crossing from all directions.
All the asphalt art will be removed.
“Final design plans are subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA and we expect to be be bringing them back to council for approval [later this year.]” according to Chang.
Construction is expected to begin in early September, and to conclude in late November of 2023.
Judith Martin-Straw
