Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Traffic is the bane of Southern California, the enemy of Los Angeles.
And boy, do we love to hate it.
But drivers in the beachside community of Playa del Rey are especially peeved about some recent changes to a major road.
Last month, the city closed traffic lanes on Vista Del Mar in an effort to reduce speeding and collisions on the street.
Drivers, however, say the changes snarled traffic so bad that they started a campaign to reverse the process.
"There was a lot of understandable anger and frustration over the lane closure," says L.A. city councilman Mike Bonin.
The city backed down today and announced it will soon take out a parking lane to recreate two lanes of traffic in each direction, again.
"This has been an extreme case, but it reflects a reality that is going to be present any time you want to change major thoroughfares," says KPCC's transportation reporter Meghan McCarty Carino. "I'm sure there will be a huge constituent of people that will hate any kind of changes that the city makes to streets."
And that's especially true with the city's campaign Vision Zero, which aims to redesign L.A.'s roads to be more safe for everyone.