Forest Lawn Drive: Four Lanes Stay

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The City has chosen a new direction for the road — but some important details are still missing.

For anyone who uses Forest Lawn Drive, the biggest news can be said in four words: four lanes are staying.

After months of debate over how to make the one-mile stretch near Griffith Park safer, the Mayor’s Office has selected a new approach that preserves the roadway’s existing four travel lanes while adding protected bicycle lanes and a protected left-turn lane. LADOT says it is working with the Bureau of Engineering to move the plan forward. LAist

That is a significant departure from the earlier proposal, which would have converted the road from four lanes to three. Mayor Karen Bass stopped that project in May.

What residents don’t have yet is almost as important as what they do.

The City has not announced when construction will begin, what the final project will cost, or provided detailed information showing how the revised design will reduce speeding. LAist also reports, citing a city official, that portions of Forest Lawn Drive may be widened as part of the new design.

Safety remains the reason the roadway is being redesigned. Since 2013, the corridor has recorded nearly 100 crashes, including four fatalities.

For Hollywoodland, Forest Lawn Drive is not some distant transportation project. It is a familiar route to the 134, the Valley and destinations throughout the eastern side of Griffith Park.

So, for now, residents can put one question to rest: the four lanes remain.

The next question is what the City intends to build around them.