The scramble crosswalk at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue has become a poster child for the city of L.A.'s somewhat underwhelming Vision Zero efforts. It is a very successful intervention in a heavily-walked area: according to the city of L.A.'s 2017 Vision Zero Action Plan, at Hollywood/Highland "since the installation of the scramble in November, 2015, there have been zero deaths and serious injuries because of a collision." The plan's Hollywood/Highland page pledges that "Several early street-improvement projects have shown promising results... These successes will be the norm."
Unfortunately, hearing one high-profile success story overandover ends up underscoring the lack of breadth of city interventions to keep all Angelenos safe from traffic violence.
Sorry to put a down spin on an article that should be a celebration.
Last week, the Hollywood/Highland scramble was joined by a new diagonal crossing nine blocks east at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine Street. The city also added a triple scramble last year along MacArthur Park.
Safe pedestrian crossing at Hollywood and Vinefalse
New scramble crosswalks at Hollywood and Vinefalse
The Hollywood/Vine scramble is very similar to Hollywood/Highland. They are both awesome. They both serve adjacent Red Line subway stations. They see large numbers of tourists visiting the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kudos to the Department of Transportation and L.A. City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell for making this happen. More please!
For new apartments, the research found that building required parking adds roughly $50,000 to $100,000 per unit, and disproportionately increases the cost to build smaller apartments.
