Once again the rhetoric rises, in this case the single ‘through lane’ of Ocean Park Boulevard east of Lincoln. The ‘knee-jerk’ reaction is that traffic has been taken from two lanes and put into a single lane thereby slowing the flow. The fallacy of this reasoning is that of overlooking the reality that was the two-lane system. With the two lanes there was consistent speeding and jockeying and cutting off of vehicles as those impatient drivers would attempt to avoid being stuck behind cars making either left, or right hand turns by jumping back and forth, lane to lane. The revised striping has wisely provided left and right turn lanes, with the single ‘through lane’ moving smoothly and safely and much more efficiently. And (it) has provided much requested bike lanes as well.
Heading west across Lincoln, the ‘drag strip’ that had been the right hand lane for about 100 yards was the cause of more racing and cutting off of other vehicles than ever should have existed. It was directly in front of a school and was extremely dangerous and absolutely time to have been eliminated. Kudos to the city for finally correcting this situation. And they have gotten the re-striping on the east side right as well. Give it a chance and I suspect the doubters will come to see the merits, and actually get to the east side quicker and safer than in the past.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 26, 2008. Read the original PDF.