Marquez/Sunset Intersection Redesign Being Finalized

Marquez Knolls homeowners were pleased to announce Wednesday the redesign of the dangerous west Marquez Avenue intersection with Sunset Boulevard should soon be finalized, an increasingly-anxious effort sought in Pacific Palisades since a fatal motorcycle accident with a bus in November 2012.

Marquez Knolls Property Association Vice President Haldis Toppel said
public buses, particularly the Route 9 Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, has been traveling on Marquez Avenue on a temporary detour for several months and it continues to trouble community, specifically for public safety, noise and vibration concerns.

In a letter to the city Department of Transportation, MKPOA President Christy Dennis stressed the need for a resolution to the detour, even suggesting to assist funding beautification efforts at the traffic island.

The detour was put in place so DOT can reconfigure traffic flow at the west intersection/island of Marquez Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.

Amy Kalp, vice president of the Los Angeles Police Department West L.A. Division's Traffic Committee, worked closely with city offices on communicating the design effort of the intersection.

In a letter to MKPOA from Santa Monica Big Blue Bus personnel, Toppel reported DOT finished analyzing the streetscape redesign based on MKPOA's recommendations, incorporating the new maneuver for the bus.

Toppel added that Norman Kulla, senior advisory for Pacific Palisades and Brentwood in City Councilman Mike Bonin's office, said they expected the plan to be finished by the end of June but still need to address concerns from the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine and an apartment tenant who use the Marquez/Sunset turnaround.

Kulla said those parties currently can't turn left to go west on Sunset so they go east then turnaround at the intersection to go west, and they won't be able to do the turnaround with the new design.

Toppel noted a resolution should be forthcoming for the start of the school year.

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