Councilman hopes to ease Westside traffic

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl envisions a Westside crisscrossed by light-rail lines that would lure commuters off crowded streets and freeways.

But those projects would take years and cost millions of dollars. So he is also offering what he called “relatively easy” solutions -- including dozens of left-turn signals and synchronizing traffic lights at 165 intersections -- to reduce traffic congestion in his district.

“It’s a nightmare,” Rosendahl said Thursday as he stood at Lincoln and Venice boulevards during rush hour to outline his plan to address the area’s growing gridlock.

During his campaign last year, Rosendahl promised his constituents to make traffic mobility a top priority.

On Thursday, he outlined a comprehensive plan that asks the City Council for more than $11 million in dedicated transportation funds for Westside street improvements and studies.

Rosendahl supports building the Expo Line to the sea, a massive project already in line for funding by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

He also wants to extend the Green Line to Los Angeles International Airport, but with a new twist: He envisions a light-rail line down Lincoln Boulevard to connect the extended Green Line at LAX with the Expo Line in Santa Monica.

The proposed 12.5-mile light-rail line would cost $1.8 billion to build, according to regional transit officials. But it is low among the transit agency’s construction priorities, falling behind Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposed subway to the sea and a light-rail line down Crenshaw Boulevard to LAX.

Rosendahl, however, wants the city to help promote his projects by allocating more than $2 million to studying them. With passage in November of the transportation bond issue, he said the timing is right.

“We will be preparing to spend some of that money,” he said.

At the street level, Rosendahl wants to spend $8 million to add left-turn signals at 32 intersections, including several along Bundy Drive, Centinela Avenue and Sepulveda, Olympic and Venice boulevards. They will be installed over the next two years.

“That should give us immediate relief,” he said.

Rosendahl also plans to dedicate $550,000 to creating master plans for Sepulveda, Olympic, Pico, Santa Monica and Venice boulevards that would cover mass transit, land use and streetscapes.

Ideas to be explored include whether to make some Westside boulevards one-way and whether to remove rush-hour parking along Lincoln Boulevard.

Parts of Rosendahl’s plan reflect recent action by the city’s Transportation Committee, of which he is a member.

At the committee’s request, the City Council has adopted a rush-hour construction ban and begun work toward enforcing a state law that requires major employers, under certain conditions, to pay workers for giving up their parking spaces.

jean.guccione@latimes.com