Last year, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation selected Foothill Boulevard between Sherman Grove and Apperson as a Vision Zero ‘Priority Corridor’, due to the high number of injury and fatality collisions along this corridor in the past, securing additional funding and design improvements for this stretch.

In addition to installing two new speed feedback signs earlier this year (near the intersections of Foothill/Floralita and Foothill/Apperson), the LADOT has now finished designing an initial restriping plan (Phase 1 of improvements to this corridor), which will include such improvements as painting 13 new crosswalks on the minor streets connecting to Foothill Blvd. and adding green markings in areas where drivers have to cross the bike lane in order to make a right turn.

Based on input the engineers received from community members at a recent traffic safety pop-up, they have created a webpage to share these proposed improvements and also to take additional feedback from stakeholders in the area. You can see this webpage and share your own feedback here: https://ladotlivablestreets.org/projects/foothill-safety. The plan is to continue to study additional locations along this corridor for further traffic safety improvements.

In addition, there is a $4 million grant secured which means the installation of eighteen different traffic safety projects across the district, including these improvements specifically in Sunland-Tujunga:

• a left-turn phasing signal at the intersection of Foothill and Mount Gleason

• four additional speed feedback signs (2 in Sunland, 2 in Tujunga)

• a new emergency vehicle beacon located in front of Fire Station 74

• a new pedestrian hybrid beacon at the intersection of Foothill and Wyngate

  
  
  

In addition, thanks to the passage of AB 43 at the state level, cities with high injury networks will also now have additional discretion to make moderate speed limit decreases to improve safety. Due to this development, LADOT is also working to return the speed limit along Foothill Blvd. in Sunland-Tujuga back to its original 35 mile-per-hour speed limit.

UPDATES THIS MONTH

Phase 1 of these engineering projects to Foothill Blvd. between Sherman Grove and Apperson, a stretch of road that has seen 8 people killed and 29 people severely injured in the last few years, has begun. Last week, LADOT added 13 new crosswalks to smaller streets that intersect with Foothill Blvd. to increase pedestrian visibility. They are also adding the green bike lane markings, installed where cars are turning right ahead have to drive across the existing bike lane to make their turn. It alerts drivers that they should watch out for cyclists in the area. The majority of those killed or injured are pedestrians, cyclists, and -- especially in the Sunland-Tujunga area — motorcyclists and equestrians. They are also working to simplify the intersection of Foothill Blvd. and Summitrose, where there has historically been an increase in illegal driving behavior, especially from drivers making an illegal left-hand turn onto Summitrose from Foothill Blvd.

We are very much looking forward to seeing more and more of these traffic safety improvements come to fruitition along Foothill Blvd. and to creating a safer environment for S-T road users.