Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Downtown's shortest stretch of one-way looks to be going away, as the City Council's Transportation committee has agendized a DOT request to remove Hill street's restriction on northbound traffic between 12th and 11th. The block has been an odd duck since 1998, when the City returned the rest of Hill street to two-way flow. The original desire was to keep Hill free for buses while pushing other traffic onto neighboring roadways, but it seems the stretch has been more confusing and annoying than it has anything else.

DOT says that light bus traffic on Hill no longer necessitates the priority, and that with development in the area the turning restrictions instead create problems for circulation. One wonders if perhaps the real driver of timing here is that city officials now stationed in the Public Works building -- part of the AT&T Center complex -- are tired of having to go around that block. Whatever the cause, this removal seems a good thing for returning some sense to Downtown streets.