Traffic Quickens Along Wilshire Blvd.

The average speed of traffic along Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills during the afternoon rush hour has increased from 6.9 m.p.h. to just over 9 since a traffic management plan was put into effect in October, 1981, a report to the City Council said.

The average speeds originally rose to 12.5 m.p.h. but increased congestion brought them down to 9 m.p.h.

The city’s traffic engineers also found a drop in the number of injury accidents in the area covered by the plan, from 38 in the 1980-81 fiscal year to 27 in the 1984-85 fiscal year.

As modified in April, 1982, the plan reduced the number of left-turn lanes on Wilshire Boulevard, prohibited cross traffic at difficult intersections, relocated crosswalks and redirected the flow of traffic from three alleys.

It also was intended to reduce north-south traffic on residential streets between Wilshire and Olympic Boulevards.

Engineers found the volume of traffic on Beverly Drive up by 80%, while traffic on parallel residential streets has declined, except for Rodeo and El Camino drives.