The city has taken a step toward calming deadly Hyperion Avenue, but new speed tables installed this week fall well short of the city's approved plan and of the community's vision for a safe, walkable street. The speed tables are accompanied by new bike-unsafe lane configurations that appear extensive enough to trigger Measure HLA, likely forcing more significant safety improvements.
Hyperion is the border between the two central L.A. City neighborhoods of Silver Lake and Los Feliz. It's a roughly two-mile-long, largely commercial street with relatively few pedestrian crossings and several dicey curves where it follows the course of a valley. Drivers there often speed at 50+ mph, ignoring the posted speed limits (mostly 35 mph, with 25 mph at two blind curves).
Hyperion has been called a "death trap," a "terrifying raceway," and "extremely dangerous." L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who represents the area, called it a "notorious speedway for drivers, where people behind the wheel often exceed the speed limit by 10 miles [per hour] or more.” Some neighbors term the intersection of Hyperion and Fountain Avenue "the corner of death."
Hyperion experienced deadly traffic crashes in 2017, 2019, and 2024. Drivers there also frequently crash into storefronts, including in 2016, 2023, and earlier this month.
Today, near Fountain, cones and caution tape mark the aftermath of a crash that didn't make the news. It appears a driver crossed into opposing traffic lanes before taking out two parking meters and crashing into a power pole.
In a city full of deadly streets, Hyperion stands out.
The City Planning Department knew of the dangers a decade ago, when they included bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements in the city's Mobility Plan 2035. The city council and mayor approved the Mobility Plan in 2015.
Around 2019, local residents, businesses, schools, and students came together to form the Hyperion Street Safety Coalition. The coalition gathered community input to produce The Avenue Plan. The plan calls for new traffic signals, crosswalks, accessible curb cuts, widened sidewalks, street trees, and more. The Avenue Plan omitted bike lanes, which would necessitate removing some car capacity (removing some combination of a travel lane and/or curb parking).
The coalition worked with Councilmember Raman, who has generally been supportive of transportation projects that improve safety and foster multimodal travel. Raman championed excellent bike/safety upgrades now installed on Hollywood Avenue and Riverside Drive, and pushed for a Forest Lawn Drive safety project, which is nearly two years overdue.
Early on, Raman's office had explored possible bike safety improvements on Hyperion Avenue to connect between existing bikeways on Rowena Avenue and Griffith Park Boulevard (at the Silver Lake Trader Joe's), but that project is still pending.
The Transportation Department (LADOT) and the council office did work with the community to craft a Hyperion safety project.
This week LADOT is installing speed tables (essentially wide flat speed bumps) on Hyperion Avenue. The project restriped Hyperion between Fountain and Tracy Street (south), adding four speed tables (two in each direction) and new 20 mph signage. Raman applauded the Hyperion project in a press release that includes praise from several community members, many of whom termed the speed tables a positive partial step while continuing to push for additional safety measures.
It was hard to imagine Hyperion getting worse for bicyclists, but the L.A. City Department of Transportation did it with the current project.
The city added 2 feet of striped median in the center of the street, pushing car traffic 1-2 feet closer to parked cars, narrowing the already inadequate space for cyclists. Cyclists traveling uphill on Hyperion now have even less space between speeding cars and parked cars.
The current project is perhaps one step forward one step back. Some drivers are slowing down somewhat at the new speed tables, while cyclists get even less space.
But the current configuration may not survive scrutiny. Under Measure HLA, the Hyperion speed table changes should trigger further pedestrian and bicycle improvements.
HLA, approved by L.A voters a year ago, requires that the city gradually implement its approved Mobility Plan. HLA requires Mobility Plan bus/bike/walk facilities be installed during "any paving project or other [street] modification of at least one-eighth (1/8) of a mile in length," with a few exceptions, including an exemption for "restriping of the road without making other improvements."
The Hyperion speed table project did not include resurfacing Hyperion's deteriorated asphalt surface. But it appears to trigger HLA as it is a street modification more than half a mile long.
When questioned regarding whether the project triggers HLA, Raman's communications staff referred Streetsblog to a discussion at this morning's meeting of the City Council Transportation and Public Works Committees. There a City Attorney representative asserted that "restriping" alone does not trigger HLA. But it is a stretch to term Hyperion solely "restriping" as it both implemented a new lane design, which was accompanied by other improvements - speed tables.
If the project triggers Measure HLA (which appears to be the case), the city would need to further improve Hyperion for pedestrians and cyclists, including:
- adding bike lanes
- installing missing curb ramps and crosswalks at more than half a dozen intersections
Hyperion is just the kind of street situation that Measure HLA was made for. Years of community efforts to fix a demonstrably deadly street have resulted in a modest project that ignores the city's own plan. The project endangers people on bike and leaves in place inaccessible unsafe intersections hostile to people walking - all in order for the city to to maintain plenty of car capacity.
A year ago this car-centric approach was legal. Today, advocates can use Measure HLA to take the city to court to force city departments to truly make Hyperion Avenue a safer and more livable place.
