Named for the nearby railroad, the Union Pacific neighborhood in Unincorporated East Los Angeles is home to numerous warehousing and light manufacturing businesses, a major truck traffic artery, and two freeways. It also has residential homes, an elementary school, a church, a YWCA community recreation center and a park. Here, more visible crosswalks are needed, cars do not respect crossing guards guiding children across the street, trucks frequently speed or congregate, and there's double parking.

The road to getting traffic calming measures began two years ago with a group of residents meeting in a local living room concerned about the frequency of traffic accidents in their neighborhood, including one in which a beloved community matriarch was struck and killed by a car while she walked to church. Another traffic accident that occurred while people were out celebrating the July 4th holiday also left a lasting impression.

Undeterred, residents walked their neighborhood, got petitions signed, and passed out yellow homemade signs that directed drivers to “please slow down.” The YWCA Union Pacific Empowerment Center, along with the nearby Eastman Elementary School have also joined the residents to attract more attention to their neighborhood’s safety issues.

The residents also appealed to County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who was working to increase the livability of the neighborhood with the newly opened YWCA community center and a public park. Residents are now closer to getting speed bumps; spacious, bulb-shaped curbs to narrow the width of the streets; solar-powered speed signs to warn drivers when they are driving too fast; street medians; as well as other measures to calm traffic in the neighborhood’s residential streets and keep large trucks out of residential neighborhoods.

The study, which came out of a 2010 resolution introduced by County Supervisor Gloria Molina, looked at “non-traditional” ways to improve traffic safety in the neighborhood. A final report on the Union Pacific Neighborhood Wide Traffic Calming Study and set of recommendations funded by the L.A. County Department of Public Worksis due out in April.

If you want to provide input before final report is released you can contact us at any time at (323) 263-2113 or directly to L.A. County at (626) 300-4709.

Maps showing planned improvements will be on display starting April 21 at the YWCA located at 4315 Union Pacific Ave Los Angeles CA.

Read more at: Traffic Safety Focus of Union Pacific Neighborhood Study