A petition on Change.org is asking State Senator Kevin de Leon to improve the on/off ramps of the Arroyo Seco Parkway at Avenue 43. As of this writing, the petition needs around 300 more signatures to reach its goal of 1,000.
Anyone who has driven on the 110 North or South near Avenue 43 knows the problem-- the entry/exit ramps put you right onto the freeway without room to accelerate, and provide limited visibility of fast-moving freeway traffic. The group thinks that making the exit/entry lanes dedicated lanes would solve the problem. Taking away a lane may cause problems of its own on the two-lane Parkway, but the petition stresses the safety issue as the primary concern.
As the petition (brought to our attention by reader Annie M.) mentions, there are extensive changes likely happening to the 110 Freeway, including new on/off ramps for Avenue 43 and others, but it will take years to complete. The petitioners want one of the potential changes put in place immediately.
The petition reads in part:
Safety on the Arroyo Seco Parkway We, the undersigned, request your immediate attention to the increasingly dangerous situation at the Avenue 43 north and southbound exit and entry ramps on the Parkway by dedicating the right lanes to on/off only.
Opened in 1940, the Arroyo Seco Parkway was not designed for the 21st Century volumes of traffic now using it, nor for the speed of the vehicles traveling its route. This has become a dangerous highway. Some of its ramps are the most treacherous in California. The Arroyo Seco Parkway Corridor Partnership Plan was completed in 2012 by CalTrans. Hammered out in a public process, most of the plans are costly with changes years away. However, we believe that one of these plans can be implemented now: Conversion of most of the northbound and southbound right hand lanes to exit/ entrance only. Exiting and entering will become safer immediately. Of all the CalTrans options, this will take the least time and money while bringing needed relief to drivers in danger of being rear-ended while trying to slow enough to make a safe exit at Avenue 43 North or entering at Avenue 43 North and South. We have witnessed far too many serious and fatal accidents associated with exiting and entering the Parkway, particularly at Avenue 43. Due to the continuing volume of accidents and the constant, unnecessary dangers of normal travel on the Arroyo Seco Parkway, we petitioners and constituents must insist that action be taken now to mitigate this serious safety issue.
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Agree? Sign here.