City Committee Approves HLA Minimum Standards, Requests Clarification for Crosswalks

This afternoon the city of Los Angeles Street Standards Committee approved minimum features for bus/bike/walk improvements. Streetsblog reviewed the initial draft and the revised version of the document, called the HLA Standard Elements Table. Under Measure HLA, which took effect in April 2024, the city is required to gradually implement its 2015 Mobility Plan when doing work in streets, mainly including repaving.

Public comment at today’s meeting was nearly all in favor of the city moving forward with planned multimodal upgrades (other than two Valley residents who showed up to argue that the city should not do bike lanes on Parthenia Street because it’s only 65-70 feet wide; this inadvertently showcased why Measure HLA is needed).

Mobility advocates continued to raise a couple of issues with the revised, improved new version of the document:

• Shared bus/bike lanes – For streets where the city approved both bus-only lanes and basic unprotected bike lanes, the city document sets the minimum standard as shared bus/bike lanes. The city has already installed this type of facility in several places (recent examples include Sepulveda Boulevard and La Brea Avenue), though it is not optimal for cyclists or transit riders.
• Crosswalks – For street segments the city designates as Pedestrian Enhanced Districts (PED), the standard elements do not mention basic crosswalks, either as a minimum element or an optional one. Optional elements include raised crossings, crossing islands, and midblock crossings – but do not include the city’s basic standard “zebra” continental crosswalks.

When questioned by the committee about why crosswalks were not included in the standards, city staff responded that crosswalks were already standard. Then staff further clarified that crosswalks are standard at signalized intersections citywide, but not included at stop-sign intersections where they have “not met warrants.” This appeared to mean that city staff are treating pedestrian district crosswalks the same as crosswalks citywide.

The crosswalk discussion is not an academic one. The city has already repaved at least a few PED streets where Measure HLA arguably requires the city to add crosswalks. Streetsblog reported earlier on portions of Vermont Avenue which lack crosswalks to bus stops on median islands (which are inaccessible via wheelchair). There is also a PED stretch of Whitsett Avenue that the city recently repaved without installing crosswalks, leaving just basic stop lines.

There was some discussion of trying to amend the document to add some crosswalk language, but committee members were wary of modifying the document language on the fly.

Ultimately the committee approved the revised Standard Elements Table as is, with a follow-on motion requesting city staff return to the committee with proposed new language regarding crosswalks in pedestrian districts.