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# Wilshire the center island on next round of traffic projects
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/wilshire-the-center-island-on-next-round-of-traffic-projects/
- Published: 2002-08-20T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:40:13.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: local, Ocean Park, #archive-import

Traveling on Wilshire Boulevard can be a life or death endeavor — especially when you are on foot.

Because it is one of the main arteries coming into Santa Monica from Los Angeles, the traffic is thick with speeding cars and buses. Throw in a business district to the mix and pedestrians are in constant battle with moving traffic.

To combat those safety issues, city officials plan to build 27 “traffic islands” at 14 intersections in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard to create safe havens for pedestrians trying to cross the street.

The islands — fully landscaped — will be similar to the ones placed in other areas of town like Ocean Park Boulevard near the airport.

“Currently it is very difficult for people to cross Wilshire,” said Beth Rolandson, a city senior transportation planner. “It’s a harrowing experience. They are stuck in the middle of the street, especially where there are left-turn lanes.”

While the intent is to give pedestrians a place to seek refuge, traffic islands inherently also slow down traffic because it appears as if the street is narrower. However, it’s not. Wilshire Boulevard will remain two lanes in each direction, Rolandson said.

The project, which will begin this fall, is part of a city-wide pedestrian improvement project that began in 1998\. Improvements also are planned for Santa Monica Boulevards, Broadway Avenue and Ocean Park Boulevard. That entire project is expected to cost upwards of $4 million.

Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown said the project stemmed from a string of pedestrian accidents that occurred in 1998 — in particular a 15-year-old girl who was fatally struck when she attempted to cross Montana Avenue.

Three decades ago, reports indicate that most pedestrians were hit while in crosswalks so communities across the country started removing them because they thought they were dangerous.

590,“One of the things we had done for years was take out crosswalks,” McKeown said. “There was a shift in thinking in the mid-90s and what we are putting in today is much safer.”

The improvements are based off of what residents told their elected officials about dangerous intersections in their neighborhoods.

“We get people who live near the street to tell us where they want these crosswalks,” McKeown said. “We have them tell us where the daycare facilities are and where the schools are that generate a lot of pedestrian traffic. And we rely on that information, rather than some consultant sitting in an office some place. It is a neighborhood-intensive process.”

> “We get people who live near the street to tell us where they want these crosswalks.” — — KEVIN McKEOWN Santa Monica mayor pro tem

Changes on Wilshire Boulevard west of Lincoln Boulevard will include restriping of crosswalks so they are more visible to pedestrians and the cars that approach them. The center islands will be placed along Wilshire to the city limits at Franklin Avenue.

McKeown thinks improvements to Wilshire Boulevard are long overdue.

“It is going to take some real serious engineering to make Wilshire safe,” he said.

The first section of town that will see improvements first is the east end of Broadway — from Princeton Street to Franklin Avenue. Because the area is surrounded by office buildings, pedestrians have a hard time crossing the street safely, Rolandson said. More traffic islands will be put there, as well as curb extensions and restriped crosswalks.

The section near John Adams Middle School on Ocean Park Boulevard between 16th Street and 18th Street will get curb extensions, and pedestrian pavement flashers, which are crosswalks that have lights embedded in the road so cars are notified in advance that pedestrians may be there.

Santa Monica Boulevard will see more flashing crosswalks east of Lincoln Boulevard and a new stop light at Berkeley Street. At 16th Street, another space will be carved out in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard for pedestrians to seek refuge.

“That is highly utilized by people who are going to Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center,” Rolandson said.

Various projects like curb extensions and “zebra striped” crosswalks will happen on the east side of the city, near the border of Brentwood on the north side and the Water Gardens on the south side.

The pattern of the zebra striping is vertical, about two feet alternating with a wide section of unpainted pavement.

Rolandson expects that the projects will take about five months to complete. Once the Santa Monica City Council signs off on the projects this fall, work will begin. However, the city doesn’t want to impede on holiday season activity so work on busy streets like Wilshire Boulevard will be scheduled around the holidays.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 20, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/082002.pdf?ref=smdp.com)