Scramble Crossings Coming to L.A., but Not for the First Time

I love scramble crossings, first encountered them in Christchurch, New Zealand last summer and thought they were great. I deal with that Westwood/Le Conte intersection almost every day and that would be a huge help there.

This should help that area, they have been know to help in the past.

Sweet! There are some good ideas floating around at the moment. Might be something worth considering on 7th near Macy's Plaza and Figueroa, and the Disney Concert Hall as well.

doesn't pasadena have one of these?

There are a few in old town Pasadena, they really seem to help. I also thing the intersection of Hollywood and Highland is in desparate need of this.

Any major intersection where crowds gather or major bus lines cross should be considered. How often do you see people missing their bus just because they missed the traffic light after getting off another bus. but le conte/westwood is a very good place to start, as would several intersections on Wilshire, like Westwood, Gayley and Glendon, for example!

Downtown Beverly Hills has had them as far back as I can remember.

It's funny how a big city like LA is re-discovering tricks that podunk Midwestern towns have used for years. Diagonal crosswalks? Letting pedestrians cross a few seconds before cars? Such a no-brainer, they even already do it in Colorado.

Judging from the hanging of a third Walk/Don't Walk signal on various polls around campus it also looks like a few intersections near USC are about to get the same treatment.

Whe should have one on olympic and figueroa, and figueroa and 11th since that is where the L.A. live complex will be.

Pedestrians often don't actually look at the signage and just cross when the car signal turns green, making the entire system fall apart, as demonstrated at the Old Town Pasadena scrambles.

I work for UCLA in the Kinross Building (in Westwood, not on campus), and we all got emails earlier this week about the "scramble crosswalk," the first time I've ever heard them called that before.

Anyway, apparently Hizzoner is going to be at Westwood & Le Conte Thursday for a 10am press conference. I was at the intersection this morning, and saw no indications of the coming diagonal crossing--no new crosswalk lines, no signs, etc. Guess they've got a lot of work to do before tomorrow.

off topic here . . .

where is blogdowntown's coverage of the 1/2 cent transportation tax circus going on at city hall? seems like a worthy story for the "movement" section, and i need some trustworthy perspective from all the folks here (contributors and commentors).

i'm getting very, very, very discouraged about the long-term prospect of living in los angeles. should i be?

Particularly good in downtown because if you drive anywhere you have to make 15 right turns to avoid "no left turn" hours and one way streets

Scramble crossings work great as long everyone follows the rules, but I see so many LA pedestrians not following the current rules. If they don't adhere to the new rules, the scramble crossings will become a congestion nightmare!