solutions

for
Sunset
Councilmember Mike Bonins
Sunset Traffic Initiative

Community Workshop
February 6, 2016

sponsors
Thank you to todays co-sponsors:

A New Dawn for Solving Sunset traffic

background

Dear Friends,

Traffic congestion on Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood is maddening and infuriating. During rush hour, motorists can spend nearly an hour driving
a single mile near the 405. As a result of the tremendous gridlock, people are arriving late for appointments, parents are losing quality time with
their children, and residents feel like they are locked into their neighborhoods for large chunks of the day.
The problem has been getting incrementally worse for decades but I refuse to believe we cant make it better. Thats why I have launched a
Sunset Traffic Initiative and taking three big steps to address the problem. We are going to focus on unprecedented collaboration, expert analysis,
and community input, to come up with proposed solutions, big and small.
Getting Expert Analysis & Advice
In order to solve this problem, we first need to fully understand how two basic foundations of transportation engineering - street design and traffic signal timing - contribute to traffic on Sunset. To accomplish this important first step, I asked renowned transportation expert Allyn Rifkin
in collaboration with former City of Santa Monica Traffic Engineer Sam Morrissey (now with the transportation systems firm Iteris), to prepare
a strategic analysis of the Sunset corridor design and signal timing. This report will help us understand the technical challenges we are facing,
including roadway construction, lane markings, and signal timing, and will additionally offer suggestions for improving the corridor. Bringing in
fresh, expert eyes to take a look at Sunset Boulevard will be incredibly useful in guiding how we tackle this problem.
Sunset Transportation Collaborative
One big cause of traffic on Sunset is the number of people going to and leaving from the many wonderful institutions on and near Sunset Boulevard world class schools, houses of worship, hotels, museums and cultural centers. To truly make an impact on traffic, these institutions need to
work together, share best practices, pool resources, and develop goals for actually reducing the number of Sunset Boulevard trips they generate.
That is why I am convening a Sunset Transportation Collaborative, and inviting all the Sunset-area institutions to participate. Already, key institutions have accepted my invitation to participate in the collaborative, including: Paul Revere Middle School, the Getty Center, the Archer School
for Girls, St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, the Brentwood Business Improvement District, University Synagogue, Brentwood School, and Mt.
Saint Marys University. The Collaborative will host its first meeting in early 2016.
I want the collaborative to grow into a genuine Transportation Management Association, a nonprofit collaborative that will provide and coordinate
transportation services in and around the corridor. We have seen successful trip reduction through such transportation management plans at Warner Center, UCLA, and more recently in Century City. Through ride-sharing, joint shuttles, coordinates scheduling and more, the number of trips
on Sunset Boulevard can be reduced, easing the gridlock we encounter.
Community Charrette
Todays workshop (or charrette in planner-speak) will be your opportunity to evaluate proposed solutions,
and suggest your own. This will be an interactive, solutions-focused workshop.
The proposed solutions from traffic engineers and transportation experts are intended to stimulate your
creative thinking. Your experience on the road, your observations, your creative ideas are encouraged in this
interactive session. I am open to any idea that could help - big and small, general or intersection-specific and nothing is off the table for discussion.
Sunset Boulevard is not going to miraculously return to the traffic-free street that it might have been a
half century or more ago. But it can get better - if we work together, are open to examining all ideas,
and commit to finding ways to reducing the number of cars. I look forward to working with you to
make this happen.
Regards,

MIKE BONIN
Councilmember, 11th District

A New Dawn for Solving Sunset traffic

agenda
Saturday, February 6
8:30 - 9:00 am Registration and Refreshments

9:00 - 9:45 am
Welcome & Introductions

Meghan McCarty, Moderator

Councilmember Mike Bonin

Seleta Reynolds, General Manager, LADOT
9:45 - 10:45 am Panel 1: Engineering & Design Solutions

Improving and Innovating Our Infrastructure

Sam Morrissey, Iteris

Allyn Rifkin, Rifkin Transportation Group

Alan Clelland, Iteris
11:00 - 11:50 am Breakout Group Work Sessions
12:00 - 1:30 pm Panel 2: Demand Management Solutions:

Changing Our Transportation Habits


Peter Valk

David Grannis

Rene Fortier, UCLA

Annie Nam, SCAG

Steve Greene, AECOM

Elliot Treharne
1:30 pm
Closing Remarks: Wrap Up & Next Steps

Councilmember Mike Bonin

Auditorium
Auditorium

Auditorium

Gym
Auditorium

Auditorium

A New Dawn for Solving Sunset traffic

facility map

Paul Revere Charter Middle School

Breakout
Sessions

Welcome
and Panels

A New Dawn for Solving Sunset traffic

speaker Bios

MODERATOR

MEGHAN McCARTY
Meghan McCarty covers commuting and mobility issues for KPCC. Got a gripe about gridlock or public transit? Shed love to hear from you.
She gets to work in a car (for now) but occasionally jumps on the Metro and walks as often
as she can. Shes looking for advice to become a more intrepid biker.
Meghan has been with KPCC since 2010, when she was hired as an Associate Producer for
The Madeleine Brand Show, where she created her signature Weekend Alibi datebook feature. She went on to report, produce and edit for Take Two Show, KPCCs award-winning
morning newsmagazine.
Meghan has contributed to public media outlets up and down California, from KQED in
San Francisco and KVIE in Sacramento to KCET TV in L.A. She has reported abroad from
South Africa, Germany, India, Israel and the West Bank.
Meghan got her Masters from USCs Annenberg School of Journalism and her B.A. in English from UCLA, but she
is not torn when it comes to rooting for sports teams (it would be impolitic to reveal her allegiance).

PANEL ONE
SAM MORRISSEY
Sam Morrissey is an Associate Vice President with Iteris, Inc., a transportation firm. He leads
Iteris Mobility Services Division, focusing on transportation engineering and planning projects to improve the day-to-day operations of multi-modal transportation systems. He previously served as Manager of Parking and Traffic for the City of Santa Monica, where he was
responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Citys transportation and parking network.
Sam has over 16 years of experience in the design, planning, forecasting, analysis, and operation of a variety of transportation facilities. Throughout his career, Sam has managed planning and engineering projects in California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Utah, and Washington.
He is a registered Civil Engineer in California and Hawaii, and a registered Traffic Engineer
in California. Sam lives in Pasadena with his wife and two children.
ALLYN D. RIFKIN, PE
Mr. Rifkin has over 35 years experience in the field of transportation engineering and planning. Included in that experience are assignments in both the private and public sectors, ranging from consultant for developers to transportation policy research for the Automobile Club of Southern California. Until recently, he was the Chief of the Bureau
of Planning and Land Use Development for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation,
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speaker bios

ALLYN D. RIFKIN, PE (cont).

responsible for managing a staff of 38 professionals and serving as the key department liaison between the development community, LA Metro, SCAG and City Council on traffic
mitigation and transportation planning issues.
As an independent consultant, Mr. Rifkin has assisted the Community Redevelopment
Agency in a complete streets initiative; the City Planning Department in its revision
to the Citys Mobility Element of the General Plan, and the City of Santa Monica in
developing a Pedestrian Mobility Toolkit. He was chief advisor to then Supervisor Zev
Yaroslavsky regarding his mobility proposal to convert Pico and Olympic into a one-way
pair. Recently, he advised the Brentwood Homeowners Association in its review of school
expansion projects in the Sunset Corridor.
Professionally, Allyn is active in the Institute of Transportation Engineers - he has served
as the president of the largest Chapter of ITE, the Southern California Chapter, with over
1,100 members. In addition to serving on the National Transit and Transportation Planning committees, he has been
instrumental on national steering committees for the ITE Trip Generation Committee and the Urban Goods Movement Committee. He has lectured extensively on the topics of traffic impact mitigation and neighborhood traffic
controls.
His college education began with a B.S. in Systems Engineering at UCLA and led to an M.S. in Transportation Engineering at Northwestern University. Rifkin is nationally recognized for his expertise in travel demand forecasting.
His more recent work has involved traffic plans to relieve congestion in various hot spots of development in Southern California including Downtown Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, the LAX Transportation Corridor (the
initial area in Los Angeles to adopt a traffic impact mitigation fee), and Warner Center.
ALAN CLELLAND
Alan Clelland has served as Senior Vice President in the Transportation Systems division
of Iteris since October 2007. Mr. Clelland has over 40 years of experience in transportation engineering and traffic control and management.
Alan moved to the United States after working in urban traffic control activities in university research, local government and the private sector in Britain, The Netherlands, Portugal and Mexico. He established the Los Angeles office for JHK and Associates (later
TransCore) and was Project Manager for some of the most innovative ITS projects in
Southern California including the City of Los Angeles ATSAC and Santa Monica Freeway Smart Corridor Systems. He was a partner in Gardner Systems until its acquisition
by Siemens and then became Director of Consulting for the firm until joining Iteris.
Mr. Clelland is a past Chair of ITS California, serves as a Senior Advisor to the ITS
California Board and is contributing to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporations Autonomous Vehicle Initiative.
He has a B.S. degree in Physics and Electronic Engineering from the University of Leeds, England, is a registered
electrical engineer in Europe and a certified Project Management Professional.

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speaker bios

PANEL TWO

PETER VALK
Peter brings over 30 years of experience in land use and transportation planning to the
field of travel demand management (or TDM). He has been an advisor to the Cities of Los
Angeles, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Glendale and many other jurisdictions on use of Travel
Demand Management (TDM) to manage traffic congestion, air quality impacts, and preservation of community quality of life.
Peter has advised public and private sector clients across the US and internationally for
over thirty years on a variety of projects including multi-modal transportation programs
for Fortune 500 organizations and municipalities.
Mr. Valk was a lead instructor for the nations first TDM Certificate Program at UCLA as
well as teaching transportation planning in the California State University system.

DAVID GRANNIS
David Grannis is the strategist in chief at Point C L.L.C., a Pasadena consulting firm
dedicated to improving peoples lives by developing and implementing triple bottom-line
mobility and land use strategies designed to benefit people, planet and prosperity.
A self-described generalist, David holistically evaluates problems and develops the
strategies, the partners, and the actions needed to effect change. He also oversees the
funding and implementation of those strategies to ensure economic and ecological benefit.
His work includes serving as a strategic advisor/mobility consultant to public agencies,
nonprofit entities, and private sector companies working to address the interrelationship
between land use and mobility sustainability. Among his clients are: Century City TMO,
Los Angeles World Airports, NBC Universal, Rancho Mission Viejo, and The Ratkovich
Company, serving as a strategic consultant to Los Angeles Metro, Gruen Associates and
Grimshaw Architects for the Los Angeles Union Station Master Plan.
David has also served as the developer, lead consultant and author/raconteur for Vision Los Angeles, a 25-year
transportation/land-use and air quality plan designed to help Los Angeles County become the most accessible region
in the Country. His experience also inludes time as a strategic advisor/consultant to The Hearst Corporation in its
successful conservation agreement to protect the 80,000-acre Hearst Ranch in perpetuity, serving as lead consultant
to the City of Pasadena in the development of legislation to create the Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority
(Gold Line), which resulted in the design-build completion of the project on time and under budget.

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speaker bios

RENE FORTIER
Rene Fortier (B.A. Rice University; M.A./M.S. UCLA), Executive Director UCLA
Events & Transportation, oversees both a comprehensive transportation program and
the campus Events Office. With a daily population of 70,000, UCLA reduces traffic, and
improves air quality and quality of life for the UCLA campus and the community at large
through an extensive sustainable transportation program, including public transit passes,
carpools, vanpools, bicycle programs, shuttles, and a campus fleet which is 50% alternative fueled.
UCLA has received awards from the Air Quality Management District, Association for
Commuter Transportation, L.A. Metro; and the Governors Environmental and Economic
Leadership Award (GEELA) for Climate Change, and is designated a Best Workplace
for Commuters and a Bike Friendly University.
ANNIE NAM
Annie Nam manages the goods movement and transportation financial planning department for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG). She oversees
regional planning studies and researches financial and policy initiatives related to transportation investments.
She is currently managing SCAGs Express Travel Choices Phase II study involving the
development of a concept of operations for a regional express lane network.
Prior to joining SCAG, Ms. Nam worked for the City of New York, where she developed
financial forecasting models, analyzed capital project financing and economic policy
initiatives. Ms. Nam holds a bachelors degree and a masters degree from Columbia
University.

STEVE GREENE, M.PL., PH.D.

Steven Greene, M.Pl., Ph.D., is an Associate Vice President in the Los Angeles office of
AECOM. He specializes in the evaluation and development of mobility alternatives for
congested and heavily traveled corridors, as well as in policy solutions to regional transportation challenges.
Prior to moving to Los Angeles in 1996, he taught at Princeton University and served as a
policy fellow in the office of United States Senator Jim Jeffords.

A New Dawn for Solving Sunset traffic

speaker bios

ELLIOT TREHARNE
Elliot Treharne is a specialist in urban and environmental policy and is currently the Air
Quality Manager at the Mayor of Londons Office with responsibility for all of Londons
air quality and green transport projects and programs.
Elliots career started with the United Nations, with placements in New York and Tanzania. Following these Elliot joined Transport for London developing Londons congestion charging scheme. He co-wrote the Mayors Air Quality Strategy in 2009 and 2010,
developing the local measures concept to reduce poor air quality at the worst hotspots in
London and played a pivotal role in developing proposals for Londons new Ultra Low
Emission Zone. Elliot chairs both the EUROCITIES Air Quality Working Group and the
experts group of the Air Quality Initiative of the Regions, representing the major European industrial and urban regions in discussions with the European Union.

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corridor map

Use this map to identify any ideas or areas of concern that come to mind during the presentations.

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glossary

Any given industry is replete with jargon and the transportation industry is no exception. Therefore, we have included this
Transportation glossary of terms and concepts to familiarize you with some of the terminology you may encounter during the
course of the days activities.

Active Transportation (also known as Non-motorized Transportation and Human Powered Transportation) includes Walking, Bicycling,

Small-Wheeled Transport (skates, skateboards, push scooters and hand carts).

Busway/Bus Lane: travel lanes dedicated to public transit buses, often incorporating other features both on bus and at bus stops to
ensure high quality frequent reliable bus service.
Charrette: A community design exercise that is a technique for consulting with stakeholders. The goal of a charrette is to promote
joint ownership of solutions and attempts to defuse confrontation.
Complete Streets: refers to roadway design and operating practices intended to safely accommodate diverse users and activities
on a street, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, public transport users, people with disabilities, plus adjacent businesses and
residents.
Congestion Pricing: Road pricing that makes use of variable or fixed fees to reduce peak-hour vehicular congestion. Congestion
pricing works by shifting purely discretionary rush hour travel to other transportation modes or to off-peak periods.
Cordon Pricing: a type of congestion pricing that uses either variable or fixed road charges to drive within or into a congested area
within a city. The cordon deliniates the boundary where the road charge would apply
Electronic Road Pricing: This refers to various electronic systems that collect vehicle tolls, which can reduce or eliminate the need
for tollbooths and for vehicles to stop. A local example would be High Occupancy Toll Toll (HOT) lanes currently operating on sections of the I-110 and I-10 freeways.
Generated Traffic: Additional vehicle trips on a particular roadway or area that occur when roadway capacity is increased or travel
conditions are improved, due to latent demand (additional trips that travelers would make if traffic conditions were improved). A
portion of generated traffic often consists of induced travel, that is, an increase in total vehicle mileage (which excludes travel shifted
from other times and routes).
Grade Separated: Paths, special lanes, freeways, transit and rail lines that are completely separated from regular roadways, either
above or below ground, and so are not delayed by cross-streets or roadway congestion.
High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV): a passenger vehicle carrying more than a specified minimum number of passengers. HOVs include carpools, vanpools, and buses. HOV requirements are often indicated as 3+ (three or more passengers required) or 4+ (four or
more passengers required).
HOV Lane: This is a traffic lane limited to carrying high occupancy vehicles (HOVs) and certain other qualified vehicles. A more
common definition would be a carpool lane.
Lane Assignment: the practice of conveying to drivers how they should align themselves upstream of an intersection to maneuver
for their desired turning movement as an intersection widens. Conveying proper lane assignment with placement of signs and markings can reduce last minute lane-changes and illegal turns, all of which can cause congestion.
Managed Lane: A lane which is restricted to particular types of vehicles provide improved travel conditions to eligible users. Eligibility can be based on the number of people in the vehicle, the type of vehicle, users who are willing to pay a toll, or other criteria.
Examples include HOV lanes, HOT lanes, freight lanes, and Value Priced lanes.
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glossary (cont.)

Mode: is a term used to distinguish different ways to perform transport and/or travel. Modes of transport for transportation purposes
include automobile, bicycle, bus, rail and walking.
Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax: Taxes on motor vehicle fuels, which are usually considered a road user fee.
Multi-Modal: In transportation circles this term is used to describe a single trip to a destination that uses two or more modes of
travel. For example, driving an automobile to a light rail station, then taking the light rail train to ones final destination.
Non-motorized Transportation (also known as Active Transportation and Human Powered Transportation) includes Walking, Bicycling, Small-Wheeled Transport (skates, skateboards, push scooters and hand carts).
Parking Management: Strategies aimed at making better use of available parking supply. Parking management strategies include
preferential parking or price discounts for carpools and/or short-term parkers, and disincentives, prohibitions and price supplements
for those contributing more to congestion.
Parking Pricing: This means that motorists pay directly for using parking facilities. Time variable parking pricing can be used as a
congestion reduction strategy.
Parking Cash-Out: This means that people (typically commuters) who are offered a free parking space at their place of business are
offered the cash equivalent to forgo their free parking space when they use alternative modes of transportation to commute to their
place of business.
Reversible Lane Operation: a travel lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically,
it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and lighted street signs notify drivers which
lanes are open or closed to driving or turning.
Road Pricing: The general term for any charge for use of a roadway. It is sometimes limited to direct charges, such as tolls, or may
include other vehicle fees, including fuel taxes, license fees, congestion pricing and parking charges.
Toll Road: A section of road where motorists are charged a direct user fee (or toll).
Transponder: An electronic tag installed in a vehicle for electronic road pricing. The tag is read electronically by an electronic tolling device that automatically assesses the amount of the user fee.
Transportation Demand Management (TDM): A general term for various strategies that change travel behavior (how, when and
where people travel) in order to increase transport system efficiency and achieve specific objectives such as reduced traffic congestion, road and parking cost savings, increased safety, improved mobility for non-drivers, energy conservation and pollution emission
reductions. Also called Mobility Management.
Transportation Management Organization/Association (TMO/TMA): Non-profit, member-controlled organizations that provide transportation services in a particular area, such as a commercial district, mall, medical center or industrial park. They are generally public-private partnerships, consisting primarily of area businesses with local government support. Transportation Management
Coordinators (TMC) are professionals who work for TMAs or individual employers.
Sunset Corridor Transportation Collaborative: Initiative lead by Councilmember Mike Bonin to establish a Transportation Management Organization among the educational institutions and local business in the Sunset Boulevard Corridor. The effort is designed
to incentivize local educational institutions and businesses to pool their transportation services and resources to reduce single occupant trips to their institution while encouraging ride-sharing and vanpooling, thereby decreasing demand on our roadways.
Turn Restrictions: A restriction or prohibition of turn movements from one street to another. The restriction can be
limited to a specific day(s) and/or time of day. Turn restrictions apply to all road users. Current enforcement practices provide no practical means to distinguish between cut-through traffic and local residents.

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thank you!
Find out more about Mike Bonins
Sunset Traffic Initiative at:

www.11thdistrict.com/a_new_
dawn_for_solving_sunset_traffic
or by pointing your smart phones
scanner app at the image below

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A New Dawn for Solving Sunset traffic