“The Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway Project is the reconstruction and reconfiguration of 2.5 miles of Santa Monica Boulevard between I-405 on the west (Beloit Avenue) and the Beverly Hills city limit on the east (Moreno Drive). The new boulevard will have three eastbound and three westbound travel lanes. Neighborhood access roads on the north and south sides of the main road are planned. The project will include a new street lighting and traffic signal system, a landscaped median, bicycle lanes and bus priority features. Additionally, the on-ramps to the northbound and southbound I-405 Freeway will be improved by adding High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) bypass lanes onto the freeway.”-LA City.org
In reality, the new boulevard is strange looking. Ornate lampposts and street trees are placed amidst Ryan Seacrest billboards and Jamba Juice and Pier 1 strip malls. The junky, sprawling, crappy gas stations, nail salons and Dim Sum palaces that lined the old Santa Monica Boulevard still line the new Santa Monica Boulevard.
The $68 million dollar project has certainly improved the roadway itself. But as a total urban renewal project it has not changed the character of the surrounding area. This section of Los Angeles is not Central Park West or Les Champs-Elysées (top photo). There is not one distinguished or classical building along the entire route. Why then did they design a boulevard that looks like it comes out of 19th Century Paris? The street furniture of benches, lighting and trees bears no relationship to its context.
And finally….. what is the feature that they forgot to put into the street? Answer: a streetcar, monorail or subway that would truly transform and improve West Los Angeles.
Here in Van Nuys 