City to Help Fix Streets Surrounding the Grove

One of the Faux Streets, Closed to Car Traffic, at the Grove

The benefits of having an outdoor cathedral to consumerism located in your neighborhood, even one as pleasant and well-designed as The Grove, are debatable.  As part of the deal that brought the Grove to the Mid City West Community, the Grove had to provide just over $400,000 for local transportation improvements.  Their final transportation plan will be heard tomorrow at the City Council Transportation Committee, and putting aside the issue of whether the City required enough of The Grove for transportation mitigation for a moment, their plan looks pretty good.

The improvements, both planned and already constructed, feature a long list of pedestrian improvements and traffic calming improvements in addition to the city’s ongoing love affair with traffic signal improvements.

In particular, the traffic plan calls for:

(1) speed humps at 66 locations, of which 37 have already been installed;

(2) RIGHT TURN ONLY restriction signs for east- and westbound traffic on First Street at Crescent Heights Boulevard;

(3) landscaped median island on 6th Street west of Fairfax Avenue;

(4) southbound left-turn phase for San Vicente Boulevard at 6th Street, timed to meter flow;

(5) electronic speed feedback signs on Crescent Heights Boulevard;

(5) (sic) and traffic signal metering at various intersections to increase delay on cut-through routes at a specific entry or exit to the neighborhood.

Photo: Reuben Cano/Flickr