Project Status: Implementation Complete
The city of Hermosa Beach was awarded grant funding through the Southern California Association of Government’s (SCAG’s) Sustainability Planning Grant program to enhance safety, walkability, and encourage use of active modes. The city hired Alta Planning and Design and Street Plans as the consultant team to lead the design and development of this project. The Prospect Avenue safety improvement project, dubbed “A Safer Prospect,” was developed in response to community concern about traffic safety along the corridor. The City applied for and received a grant from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to evaluate traffic safety concerns and identify potential improvements that can be tested and evaluated through a temporary demonstration project.
“A Safer Prospect” aims to improve the overall safety of the Prospect Avenue corridor for everyone. This residential corridor serves two elementary schools and four parks, with younger residents constantly traversing the corridor. The project focused on improving the rate of vehicles yielding and stopping for pedestrians, and managing and reducing vehicle speeds to keep students and younger residents safe.
This project was originally conceived to include in-person engagement events, such as traditional open houses to share ideas and collect community feedback but due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the project team led virtual community engagement activities that helped determine the locations for the demonstration elements and refined the design and types of temporary infrastructure treatments that would be tested. Street Plans designed the types of infrastructure to be installed and developed an implementation plan that was presented to the City Council on January 26, 2021. In May 2021, the project team installed a number of temporary infrastructure enhancements along Prospect Avenue at 9th/10th street and at 14th/15th street which includes curb extensions, high visibility crosswalks, pedestrians islands and a mini traffic circle.
To evaluate the demonstration project, the project team analyzed the general public surveys, public comments received directly, and general observations to assess its effect on safety for the Prospect Avenue Corridor as well as the community’s sentiment regarding the installed infrastructure.
