[The kickoff post's here; dark red lines mark the streets I've walked so far; green lines mark Olympic and Pico]

If you’ve been paying attention to the move to turn Olympic and Pico (in green) into one-way streets, this mid-city area — which I’m I’m arbitrarily defining as the section between Colorado and Pico — should be of some interest to you.

The proposal, as put forward by LA County Supervisor Zev Yarolslavsky: Ease traffic congestion — by 20% if left hand turns’re forbidden, according to former LADOT planner Allyn Rifkin’s analysis — by turning these big thoroughfares into one-way streets.

Kemp Powers at LAist argues against the proposal, pointing out that seven lanes of traffic in one direction with exits only on the right side sounds curiously like a freeway. Still, Yarolslavsky’s idea seems to be gaining momentum, although Koreatown people have come out against it.

What would this mean for Santa Monica? As opposed to most of Los Angeles, where the 10 freeway falls far south of both Olympic and Pico Blvds., in Santa Monica, the 10 runs between the two. This means that if Olympic and Pico start to resemble freeways, we’d basically have 3 freeways right in a row, encasing a 2-block-wide area. (Pico and Olympic in green)

I’m a bit afraid that this one-way thing will mean something akin to a 2-block-wide freeway in Santa Monica.

If you try running in the area between Olympic and Pico as it is now, as I have, you’ll find it hard to get way from the constant whoosh of cars going by on the freeway. You’ll also see a lot of fences and rather blighted areas where streets dead-end.

That’s not to say there aren’t some cute neighborhoods in there. Ignore the freeway sounds, and the 6-block area bound by Exposition and Virginia’s quite pleasant. It even has a park attached to the end of it. However, I don’t know how these people would get to the grocery store without getting in the car. The ‘hood’s pleasant once you’re in it, but not so pleasant to get in and out of.

Somewhat oddly, while Pico’s usually packed as Santa Monica High School and SMC are both on it, Olympic Blvd.’s rarely very congested in the Santa Monica area, perhaps because it’s so big, and perhaps because the 10’s right next to it. All the pics here are of Olympic, taken around 6:30 pm last night, when most streets’re still full of rush-hour traffic.

In fact, Olympic turns into a one-way street headed west around 10th, so the 10 freeway can dump into it. This, as you can imagine, is the point where Olympic is most pedestrian-unfriendly and gross –

Which is to say I’m not sure how I feel about this one-way thing. Part of me immediately reacts against it. But another part of me thinks, well, other cities have them. San Francisco has some major one-way streets, as does New York. Both are much more neighborhood-y than Los Angeles, with better transportation systems. One-way streets don’t, thus, seem to automatically mean horribly blighted, car-only ‘hoods.

And there’s stuff about the project I just don’t know. For instance — What does this mean for buses? I believe there are some plans to allow buses to go both ways, but I’m not sure what the details are — whether this means dedicated bus-only lanes on both Olympic and Pico, and if so, how many.

Also, what’ll happen to the pretty trees in the median on Olympic?

And how does it all get decided?

Which is why I’ll be at the “informative meeting” with Rifkin that Santa Monica’s hosting tonight, for a discussion on Olympic and Pico as one-way streets. Rifkin will present, then attendees will have a chance to “share their comments, concerns and suggestions and to ask questions”

It happens tonight, Thursday, July 12, 2007, from 6:45 pm - 8 pm at the Ken Edwards Center, 1527 4th Street, Room 103, in Santa Monica. Be there.

Update, 7/13/07: Here’s Pico. Plus, a report on the community meeting about the one-way streets.

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