Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has a variety of tactics up his sleeve to try to alleviate the escalating car-congestion in and around L.A. The ferocious-sounding “Gridlock Tiger Team” will be on patrol and aggressively ticketing those who “block the box,” or get caught part-way through intersections after the traffic signals change.
The city will also look to improve traffic light synchronization to keep the jammed streets moving; incorporate more diagonal crosswalks at intersections to allow peds quicker street crossings; and install smart parking meters similar to those in San Francisco. By charging higher rates in more desirable locations and during busier times of the day, smart meters encourage a quicker turnover of parking spots and less time spent, gas burned, and congestion worsened by motorists continually circling the block.
The most exciting bit of Villaraigosa’s traffic-targeting actions is his encouragement for Angelenos to “go Metro” and use the city’s mass transit system. Villaraigosa plans to lead by example; as The L.A. Times’ Emerald City column reported, the mayor committed to ride a bus, subway, or light rail-line at least once a week. Villaraigosa is also kicking around the idea of raising the county’s sales tax by a half-cent to help pay for an expanded public transportation system, including a proposed “Subway to the Sea.” Although a half-cent doesn’t sound like much, the mayor estimates that such an increase would generate between $500 and $600 million per year.
Sounds like some exciting projects afoot in L.A., a city more known for its car-riddled sprawl and smog than its public transit. Let’s hope that Villaraigosa’s Metro work commute will be more legit than the less-than-green photo-ops of NYC’s mayor Bloomberg.
Photo via flickr by Bonnie and Victor Cats & andropolis.
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it can be tempting to bypass traffic laws, but in my personal experience, moves like the provoke more car aggression toward cyclists. don’t like it.
I don’t think the primary goal of this video is to encourage people to ride on freeways or to break traffic laws. It’s pointing out how stupid it is to sit in traffic when you can get there much faster by bike. Also, how broken the “high-speed” freeway system is. I like it.