In an effort to increase the safety and mobility of the Forest Lawn Drive corridor, this June the Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA) will resurface Forest Lawn Drive from Memorial Drive to Zoo Drive adjacent to Griffith Park, Forest Lawn Memorial the LADWP Headworks site. This resurfacing will be paired with a reconfiguration designed to reduce speed and increase safety for all road users by the Department of Transportation (LADOT).
WHY IS THIS PROJECT HAPPENING?
In response to a fatal vehicle crash on Forest Lawn Drive in December of 2022, which also followed other speed-related fatalities for both pedestrians and drivers in this corridor over the last decade, our Office initiated the Forest Lawn Safety & Mobility Project.
Seeing that a large section of Forest Lawn Drive was on StreetsLA’s list of potential resurfacing segments, we asked a few simple questions of LADOT: what are the current speeds and condition of this road, and could it be made safer? Are there any design choices that could accomplish that and potentially provide other benefits?
LADOT reports that on Forest Lawn Drive, the median and 85th percentile (used to set speed limits) vehicle speeds on Forest Lawn Drive are 44 and 49 mph, respectively. It’s important to note that 42 mph is the speed at which, if hit by a car while walking or biking, you have a 50% risk of death – which increases to 75% at 50 mph. 74% of drivers are traveling 42 mph or faster on Forest Lawn Drive.
Those really fast prevailing speeds make any crash more likely to be fatal or cause serious injury to those in cars as well, and they exacerbate safety issues related to turns and visibility. The chart below shows how even a small shift in average speeds can give people better than 50-50 odds of surviving a crash.
It should be noted that in the Circulation Element of our General Plan, Forest Lawn Drive is classified as an Avenue I. Part of this classification is also the assignment of a “Target Operating Speed” which is what it sounds like, the operating speed of the roadway that we would want to hit.
The Target Operating Speed of an Avenue I is 35 mph, 9 mph slower than the current median speeds. If we know high speeds kill, and that our own General Plan and the experts in LADOT want a street to not be as fast, we have both policy guidance and technical expertise pointing us to take action to calm traffic, improve safety, and make the street function more as it should.
WHAT WILL THE PROJECT DO?
The Forest Lawn Drive Safety & Mobility Project will reconfigure the roadway to bring speeds down, add physical protection for cyclists, and create safer conditions for everyone who uses this corridor — including better turn access for both cemeteries and the Junior Achievement Center. It will also reduce conflict points on the corridor. It will do this through repurposing the second lane of westbound traffic that starts west of Zoo Drive and using the space for a protected bike lane and a safe area for pulling over for flowers. It will also drop the second eastbound lane east of Memorial Drive and use that space for a protected bike lane and right turn lane for Mt. Sinai Memorial. The configurations of the Forest Lawn Dr / Memorial Dr, and Forest Lawn Dr / Zoo Dr intersections will remain the same. The bike lanes will be protected with Narrow Bike Lane Defenders and bollards.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT?
Over decades of research, roadway reconfigurations have been found to have a 19-47% reduction in overall crashes, and reduce speeds by 3-5 mph). They also introduce operational benefits generally, including reducing conflict points between vehicles, separating left turns, and reducing speed differential (think starting and stopping) providing a calmer, steadier traffic flow.
While accomplishing the main goal of the Project of reducing speeds, the design also opens up design opportunities and attendant safety benefits beyond speed reduction. These features and benefits include:
An expanded and protected curbside bike lane for most of the segment; lengthened and new turn pockets for both cemeteries. For Forest Lawn Memorial at Memorial Drive, the westbound left turn pocket will be extended from 120 feet, which holds around six cars, to 130 feet, which holds around seven cars. A center turn lane beyond the end of the turn pocket will add a further 1,020 feet of space which could allow around 51 more cars to queue up.
For eastbound at Memorial Drive, nothing is changing since the project does not extend into the intersection.
For Mt. Sinai Memorial at Mt. Sinai Drive, the westbound left turn pocket will be extended 213% from 94 feet, which holds around 5 cars, to 200 feet, which holds around 10 cars. A center turn lane beyond the end of the turn pocket will add a further 1,340 feet of space which could allow around 67 more cars to queue up. A new right turn lane will be created in the eastbound direction which will be around 475 feet long and able to allow around 24 cars to queue up. Currently there is no real right turn lane, just a shorter mixing lane.
Safer turns and better visibility for turns on and off of Forest Lawn Drive. Especially at Mt. Sinai Drive where the northbound right turn out of the cemetery will have a better sightline and more space to pull up before the auto lane, and at the entrance to the Junior Achievement Center school where a new left turn pocket will be created for turns into the parking lot. The reduction in auto-only lanes from two to one in each direction will make turns off of all driveways safer as there will be fewer lanes to cross while turning.
Designated space for people to pull over and buy flowers safely, without blocking any driving or bike lane.
HOW WAS FEEDBACK TAKEN AND CONCERNS ADDRESSED?
At the outset of the Project, our office and LADOT met with internal partners LAFD, LAPD, LADWP, and the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP); external governmental entities including Metro, the SFVCOG, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale; and external private stakeholders Forest Lawn Memorial, Mt. Sinai Memorial, NBCUniversal, and Warner Brothers.
Following that, an online survey was conducted and presentations were subsequently made to both the Los Feliz and Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council along with another round of public feedback including an in-person open house.
Throughout the outreach process, LADOT actively solicited public feedback via the project website and email form. Both CD4 and HHWNC received numerous comments from community members, all of which were documented and incorporated into the feedback summary below:
| Meeting | Date |
|---|---|
| LADOT and CD4 met with LARAP, LADWP, LAFD, and LAPD | 4/4/23 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with Metro, Cities of Burbank and Glendale | 4/13/23 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with NBC Universal and Warner Brothers Studios, Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai Memorial Parks. | 5/3/23 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with Warner Brothers Studios | 6/6/23 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with LADWP regarding Headworks/Forest Lawn Project Coordination | 6/20/23 |
| CD4 met with Los Feliz NC’s Transportation Committee and Griffith Park Advisory Board | 8/1/23 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with Warner Brothers Studios | 8/3/23 |
| LADOT and CD4 (including CM Raman) met with Forest Lawn and Mt Sinai Memorial Parks onsite | 8/14/23 |
| CD4 met with NBC Universal Studios | 11/13/24 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with Los Feliz Neighborhood Council | 11/19/24 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council (HHWNC) | 11/20/24 |
| CD4 met with Bike-LA, SAFE, StreetsforAll, LA Walks, GPAB, FOGP, and Griffith Park Runners | 11/21/24 |
| LADOT and CD4 met with Caltrans, Metro, Cities of Burbank and Glendale, LADWP, and LAFD | 11/26/24 |
| LADOT and CD4 hosted a public open house to receive feedback and give project updates. This meeting also included updates for: LA RiverWay Extension Phase IV (LADOT)LA River Ecological Restoration (BOE)Crystal Springs Dr/Zoo Dr (RAP + Kimley-Horn) | 12/4/24 |
| LADOT and CD4 participated in a HHWNC Forest Lawn Special Meeting | 12/17/24 |
From August 2023 to January 20th, 2025, LADOT and CD 4 collected over 2,700 unique points of feedback solicited from various sources and formats outlined below:
| Date | Feedback Format | Distributed by | Number of Responses |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2023 | Online Survey | Distributed via LADOT’s e-newsletter and CD4’s e-newsletter | 728 |
| December 4th, 2024 | Open House | Distributed via LADOT’s e-newsletter, CD4’s e-newsletter, promoted by Los Feliz NC and Hollywood Hills West NC | 53 (80+ attendees) |
| January 19th, 2025 | Petition opposing the project and list of names of project opponents submitted by Forest Lawn Memorial Park | On January 19th, 2025, LADOT received an email from Dennis Madison at Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries with an attachment that included a petition against the project that had been signed by 765 people and a list of 288 names of people who had “expressed their opposition online” | 1045 |
| November 2024 – January 20th 2025 | Online interest and feedback form | Available via the Forest Lawn project website or submitted through Active Transportation’s general feedback form | 716 |
| November 2024 – January 20th 2025 | Emails to CD4, LADOT, or Hollywood Hills West NC | – | 219 |
| November 2024 – January 20th 2025 | Letters to Mayor’s Office | – | 4 |
| Total: 2765 |
Common notes of concern included concerns about traffic delay and specifically about delay during funeral services and events, where unexpected numbers of attendees can show up in a short time period. As with all roadway reconfiguration projects, LADOT conducted a Travel Delay Analysis, which can be found on the Project website. This analysis found that there was the potential for delays of 6-15 seconds on weekdays and up to one and a half minutes on weekends over the mile-long corridor.
These results classified the Project as one that could proceed without special considerations. But hearing the concerns about delay during services specifically, our office worked with LADOT to lengthen the left turn lanes for both cemeteries as much as possible as well as add a center turn lane for overflow use. We were also able to create an entirely new right turn lane for Mt. Sinai Memorial.
We’ve also heard concerns about roadway capacity and emergency operations. It’s important to note a few things. First, just like any reconfiguration project, this project has been reviewed by LAFD. Our office also brought in LAPD along with other departments into the process. Next, for everyday operations, emergency vehicles can utilize turn lanes, buffer space, and oncoming lanes to avoid congestion. Since the termini of the Project at both Memorial Drive and Zoo Drive are not changing, the overall capacity of the road to move people out will not be altered.
We also heard questions as to why other speed mitigation measures are not being pursued instead of the Project. LADOT notes that speed tables are not possible on Forest Lawn Drive due to the prevailing rates of speed being too fast, and Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras are not feasible due to the restrictions of where those systems can be placed.
Finally, please note that one of the reasons that quick-build projects like this are used by LADOT is so that adjustments can be made if needed. There will also be evaluation done after the Project is installed to understand the measure of success of the Project.
MORE INFORMATION
For more information on the project, please visit the LADOT project webpage and the LADOT Forest Lawn FAQ page.
Also please see an updated presentation about the project here.