Two years ago, a "road diet" was placed on Venice Boulevard in Mar Vista, reducing the road to four lanes instead of six. Everyone thought it would be a great idea, but now they are finally facing reality.
“It’s causing a lot of peak-hour gridlock. It’s causing a lot of cut-through traffic in our neighborhoods,” Mar Vista resident Serena Inyoue said.
CBS2’s Greg Mills spoke to other residents about the road diet, and how it has changed the way they get around.
“People are anxious to get where they are going and forgetting about what’s happening around them and zooming through. And it’s really, really frightening,” Sheri Odere said.
Even though the road diet was designed to keep bicyclists safer, many say it's actually making the roads less safe for them.
“Having a bike lane is great. Whether this is the ideal bike lane, I don’t know,” said cyclist Neil Everett. “There was a dangerous aspect before they fixed it and there’s a dangerous aspect after they fixed it”.
Business owners in the area have also said that the lack of parking has turned away many of their customers.
“It seems to be down anywhere from 25-30 percent over the last year or so,” tattoo shop employee Bill Beccio said.
When will the city listen to it's residents? Road diets are not the solution.
Read the full report on KCAL 9.