3.1. National Projects

Carson Street Reconstruction

The Project: Carson Street is a major east-west arterial street running through the middle of the city of Torrance. Torrance is located near Los Angeles in southern California. This reconstruction project was 1.03 miles long, and its limits are Madrona Avenue to the west and Crenshaw Avenue to the east.

 

Location: Torrance, California (A suburb of Los Angeles)

Context Setting:  Suburban

Roadway Classification: Principle Arterial

Stakeholders: California DOT, Torrance city officials, Residents, Southern California Edison, Pacific Bell and Paragon Cable Television.

The Process: A driving issue behind the project was to relieve traffic congestion and increase roadway capacity to improve traffic flow to and from the expanding Del Amo Fashion Mall area, which has over 18.6 ha (2.0 million sqft) of retail commercial activity. 

To improve roadway capacity and safety, a five-lane urban cross section with a two-way median left-turn lane was implemented. Curb, gutter, and sidewalks were added along both sides of the entire project to provide improved roadway drainage and to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists.

General urban street standards prescribed by the AASHTO Green Book and the MUTCD were used on this project. The project received an award for highway design excellence from California DOT in 1993.

Lessons Learned: This was the largest single street improvement project undertaken in the city of Torrance in the last 20 years. An early and extensive public involvement program aided this project and its acceptance by the community.

 

Improvement to the general aesthetics of the street was a major distinguishing feature of the project. Flowering plants, shrubs, and ground cover were placed at the west end of the project on a thin median between the main street and a north side service road.

Early Public involvement helped in minimizing public opposition and concern.

 

The full case study is available online at: http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/case_studies/flex_carson/resources/flex_carson/