Culver City, a separately incorporated city midway between downtown Los Angeles and the beach, sought to find solutions to existing city-wide issues like crippling daily through-traffic, particularly at rush hour, and the disconnected local street network that limits mobility between neighborhoods and across the city for those who live there.  The Expo light rail Line, connecting Culver City to downtown, introduced a new catalyst for local mobility when it opened in 2012.  This new connectivity to the region presented an opportunity to re-envision land use surrounding the station and explore local mobility options within the city, including the transit hub and its surrounding neighborhoods.

The resulting plan, or visioning strategy, emerged from eight public workshops with community groups, City staff, and public input to the project’s interactive website, with the goal to increase the viability of alternative mobility modes for residents and other users by developing more and better choices.  Recommendations for both near-term improvements and longer-term strategies include a perimeter parking and circulation plan to discourage cut-through traffic; improved access points to major employment centers; a system of flexible, on-demand micro-transit with dedicated street lanes and strategic connections; a Complete Streets re-design for Washington Boulevard; a comprehensive network of bike routes and bike facilities; more frequent and improved crosswalks for pedestrian priority; an expanded transit oriented development district with a new specific plan; and a robust transit demand management program ultimately for city-wide application. The strategies embody the community’s priorities: pedestrians first, transit next, then bikes, and cars last.