Approximately 60 community members and business owners gathered at the Korean Cultural Center on Monday to hear Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) plans to ease the effects of the Purple Line extension road closures, expected to start in April.

Councilman David Ryu talks about the mitigation measures Metro proposed on Monday. The councilman, with city departments, will make a decision on the closure schedule this month. (photo by Gregory Cornfield)

Metro will complete decking at street-level at Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue over a future subway station and start underground construction and tunneling. To complete the work, Metro proposed a full closure of Wilshire Boulevard between La Brea and Highland avenues for seven weeks or 16 weekends. Wilshire Boulevard from Detroit Street to La Brea Avenue will be closed for six additional weekends regardless of the alternative options.

Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, in conjunction with multiple city departments, is expected to choose the closure option before the end of January. Soon after, Metro will begin work with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to get necessary city approvals and conduct community outreach.

The weekend closures would not require a traffic management plan (TMP). Construction workers would start at 9 p.m. each Friday and work until 6 a.m. on Monday.

On Monday, Metro representatives presented the required TMP for the seven-week closure. If that option is selected, construction would start above ground at 7 a.m. every day, and below ground at 11 p.m.

The TMP was designed to manage traffic during construction. It uses current traffic counts and patterns to create detour routes, mitigation and contingency plans.

Metro studied the traffic on a Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in November at 22 heavily used intersections near the construction site. They monitored daily volume and movement, such as how long it takes to get through an intersection. Metro representatives cited project trip distribution – a measure using traffic counts and Level of Service (LOS) analysis to estimate what vehicles will go where when roads close.

Mitigation measures include signal timing coordination improvements, street striping to add or lengthen turn pockets, traffic officers, additional surveillance cameras, parking restrictions and public information strategies. For example, proposed mitigation includes extending left turn pockets and modifying signal timing at Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard. Motorists driving westbound on Wilshire Boulevard will be encouraged to utilize alternate routes starting at Western Avenue. Intersections and streets along the alternative detour routes will also require mitigation measures and signage.

Metro will seek TMP approval from Los Angeles’ departments of transportation, engineering, street services and the Board of Public Works to pursue the seven-week closure.

After final plans are approved and implemented, Metro will monitor the mitigation plans for the first two weeks and study their efficiency to make adjustments if needed.

Metro and contractor representatives said that they are neutral on the decision between full or weekend closures.

“We’re here to serve you,” said Metro construction relations manager Kasey Shuda. “We know this is difficult.”

Renee Jacobson lives at Las Palmas Avenue and Sixth Street and works at an office La Cienega and Wilshire Boulevards.

“I’m in Metro hell,” she said. “My concern is my business. Our patients are not appreciating coming into a high-density, high-traffic area to begin with. And now with what’s going on at La Cienega and Wilshire, people are late to their appointments or canceling. What are you going to do for businesses in this area? If you close for seven weeks straight, we may have to declare bankruptcy.”

Shuda said Metro will work with affected businesses directly and produce fliers and marketing materials to inform customers how to get to storefronts during closures.

“We’ll have signage in place to tell people that businesses are open,” Shuda said. “There’s also the business interruption fund for any businesses that are impacted by construction.”

Metro designates $10 million annually to be used for the business interruption fund to cover certain operation expenses. Business owners can apply for $50,000 or 60 percent of annual revenue losses. To apply, or for information, visit pcrcorp.org, or call (213)739-2999 ext. 223.

Shuda said the number one concern Metro received was about nighttime noise. Residents at the meeting said they are concerned that sound walls won’t be enough to mitigate the construction noise for a 24-hour-per-day operation. Jim O’Sullivan, president of the Miracle Mile Residential Association, said Metro has improved mitigation efforts over the years. But he added that even with sound walls and coordinated work schedules, the continuous construction noise can be like “torture.”

O’Sullivan also questioned the validity of the traffic studies that only included one weekday.

“Typically traffic studies have two days during the week,” he said. “It’s usually a Tuesday and a Thursday. I don’t think you have enough information just doing one day during the week. Tuesday is going to be totally different from a Thursday. We’ve been doing this for years, looking at how LOS goes down and goes up and it’s never what you think it will be.”

Mid-City West Community Council chairman Scott Epstein said he was concerned that safety didn’t appear to be on the top of Metro’s list of priorities.

“Level of Service we know quite frankly is a best guess,” he said. “This city’s new transportation policy is safety first. If you were to go for the seven-week full closure, some of these [mitigations] could potentially have safety impacts when you’re adding capacity to roads or adding new turn pockets.”

Mike Aparicio, a representative for the contractors, said safety is carefully studied but it wasn’t as much of a factor at this stage of the planning. He said Monday’s meeting was just about presenting the options.

“Each intersection will be looked at in terms of pedestrian safety, in terms of vehicle movements and turn radiuses so they will be meticulously studied,” he said. “DOT, our traffic designers, the contractor and Metro will carefully consider each intersection and each modification, including pedestrian safety. If we elect to go with the full closure there will probably be at least about a two and half month period to make sure it is methodically studied and implemented safely.”

Others were generally critical of Metro’s outreach efforts, citing businesses that didn’t know about the closures, and neighborhood councils who have not received alerts about the closure plans or meetings.

To reduce the impact of cut-through traffic, Shuda said Metro is working with the popular mobile app Waze – which directs drivers through neighborhoods to avoid congestion on major roads – to ensure neighborhoods are not overwhelmed.

Ryu said the meeting was important because the community input will be used to help make his decision.

“You do have approval and you do have a voice and it’s through me,” he told the residents.

Metro and LADOT representatives recorded concerns about specific intersections and said they will consider all input before making a final decision.

Metro will host a larger construction community meeting on Jan. 21 at Los Angeles High School from 6-8 p.m. For information, visit metro.net/purplelineext, or call (213)922-6934. Concerns about the TMP can be directed to Ryu’s office or Metro’s office at purplelineext@metro.net.