Here’s what L.A. can look like today just outside the Bradbury Building on the left – the setting in Blade Runner which you can find starting at 4:20 in the video in the post below.
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L.A. Streetsblog reports that “the Los Angeles City Council approved a plan to overhaul Broadway between 2nd Street and 11th Street through Downtown’s historic core. The existing six lanes of mixed-use travel lanes will literally be cut in half, down to three lanes. In their place, a massive increase of the pedestrian infrastructure will take place.
According to the Bringing Broadway Back (BBB) website, the project was inspired by New York City’s pedestrian expansion plans in Times Square. To justify the project, BBB points to the NYC DOT report entitled Measuring the Street
“Measuring the Street” showed how a similar semi-permanent pedestrian enhancement project on Union Square North resulted in many benefits for the area:
- a 16% decrease in speeding, while median speeds increased 14% elsewhere
- injury crashes fell by 26%
- 49% fewer commercial vacancies
- once implemented, 74% of users preferred the new configuration.
- in areas where a curb lane was turned into a pedestrian / seating area, the location saw a 172% increase in retail sales, compared to 18% borough-wide.
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In Los Angeles, the permanent Broadway Streetscape Master Plan’s full-scale build out include:
- widened sidewalks and curb extensions
- reduced crosswalk widths
- enhanced pedestrian crosswalk treatments
- reconfiguration of the street to three lanes of traffic
- curbside 24-hour parking
- loading and valet areas to support Broadway merchants; transit stations
- enhanced lighting; bike racks
- wayfinding signs
- trees and plantings
- a storm water retention and recycling system.
Nothing at all like Blade Runner. How come the present always gets the future wrong when it goes all dystopian on us?
