Eyes on the Street: Left Turn Safety Improvements at 4th and Hill in DTLA

9:23 AM PDT on May 30, 2018

Safety improvements at 4th and Hill Streets in downtown L.A. – view looking west toward Bunker Hill. All photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.

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The L.A. City Transportation Department (LADOT) recently installed safety improvements at the intersection of 4th and Hill Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The intersection is where the northern station portals for the Metro Red/Purple Line Pershing Square Station are located, alongside the "Angels Landing" site and very near Angels Flight railway.

Eastbound drivers here are often moving fast, coming downhill from Bunker Hill.

The new safety improvements are similar to what LADOT installed at the intersection of First and Main Streets across from City Hall in 2017. Those were adapted from an NYCDOT left turn traffic-calming pilot which proved successful in getting drivers to make safer left turns from one-way streets onto two-way streets. The treatment forces drivers to slow down slightly and turn legally into the proper lane, instead of cutting the corner to turn into an oncoming traffic lane and then crossing the double yellow center line. It also gives pedestrians a shorter, safer walk crossing the one-way street. LADOT spokesperson Oliver Hou states that the designs are similar, with the 4th Street location testing "different hardware" to evaluate its "durability."

The improvements at 4th and Hill include:

a painted curb extension – with bollards and pavement markings – on the north side of 4th Street just west of Hill Street.
bright yellow mid-street rubber curb and knock-down bollards – on Hill Street immediately north of 4th Street.