Will "traffic calming" measures slow down the longest thoroughfare in Manhattan Beach? That's a question that remains to be seen - but the city has taken the first steps toward making that happen along the northeastern-most stretch of Valley Drive.

The Manhattan Beach City Council on Tuesday night approved a series of measures aimed at slowing traffic along Valley Drive between Sepulveda Blvd. and 27th Street.

Those measures include:

1) A temporary painted center median on Valley between Sepulveda and Oak St., with a new dedicated left turn pocket on eastbound Valley to turn onto Oak.

2) A speed limit flashing sign on Valley for westbound traffic just past 35th St.

3) Stop signs at Valley and Pine Ave.

4) A double yellow center line down Valley.

5) Crosswalks and warning signs at Elm Ave. and at Walnut Ave. across Valley to the Greenbelt.

City Traffic Engineer Erik Zandvliet said that he expected that the stop signs could be installed "within a month."

If those measures do not slow speeds by six months after they are completed, the city will consider additional measures, such as creating "bulb-outs" (curb extensions that extend the sidewalk into the parking spaces, effectively shrinking the road width and thereby slowing traffic) and/or raised crosswalks. 

Councilmembers voted, 5-0, in favor or the measures, while at the same time expressing skepticism that those measures alone will slow the traffic.

"This is a good first step; unfortunately I don’t believe it will be the last step," said Mayor Richard Montgomery.

Councilmember Steve Napolitano also noted that "enforcement is going to be a very big part of this." As an example of how stop signs alone might not be enough, Napolitano cited the infamous and widely ignored stop sign at 6th and Valley, where a resident has filmed cars repeatedly blowing through the intersection without stopping.

Although the northeastern stretch of Valley Drive has long been known for high speeds, a February 2023 accident involving a 6th grader on a bicycle spurred a group of residents to bring the issue to the City Council.

On March 7, following the bicycle accident, the City Council heard public testimony from residents concerned regarding traffic safety. The City Council directed staff to work with the Parking and Public Improvements Commission (PPIC) to propose possible traffic calming solutions for their future consideration.

On April 17, the city received a follow-up petition circulated by Chad Feilke and signed by
more 100 local residents asking for stop signs on Valley Drive at Pine Avenue. At Tuesday's meeting, Feilke noted that the petition now has more than 225 signatures.

In a report to the PPIC on April 27, Zandvliet noted that, "The prevailing speed on Valley Drive is higher than expected for a street with fronting residential homes and for its classification as a residential collector street. This speed can be primarily attributed to the high entering speed of drivers entering Valley Drive from Sepulveda Boulevard, as well as the uninterrupted distance between stop signs on a street segment with homes on one side only."

The five recommendations that the PPIC came up with were the ones that the City Council then approved on Tuesday night. 

Reached after the meeting, Feilke told MB News that he was pleased with the 5-0 vote. 

However, Feilke said, "I’m all for the stop sign, but if they just paint a crosswalk without any flashing beacons or bulb outs or raised crosswalk…I’m worried that someone is going to get hurt because of the speeds on Valley."

Feilke added that he didn't think the speed limit flashing sign would make much difference. "The old speed sign showed the speeds, and it didn’t deter anyone from speeding," he said.

Valley Drive resident Dale Keldrauck, who said he has lived on Valley Drive for more than 50 years, told City Council on Tuesday night that he believed that traffic and speeding was worse than ever along that stretch. "The time is due for these things to happen," said Keldrauck.

In fact, the city's records appear to at least partially bear out that observation.

City traffic engineers observed Valley Drive between 27th and Sepulveda, where the speed limit is 30 miles per hour, in both 2015 and in 2022.

In 2015, the 50th percentile of drivers were traveling at 26 miles per hour, and the 85th percentile drivers were traveling at 37 miles per hour. 

By comparison, in 2022, the 50th percentile of drivers were traveling at 30 miles per hour, and the 85th percentile of drivers were traveling at 35 miles per hour.

Since 2022, there have been two significant collisions: One, in 2022, in which an eastbound left-turning driver failed to yield to a westbound driver at Oak Avenue; and the 2023 accident in which the 6th grade cyclist was sideswiped by an eastbound driver.

Valley Drive is a 32-foot-wide two-lane residential collector street with a 30 mile-per-hour posted speed limit. As one of the main arteries traversing the western half of Manhattan Beach, it is widely used by residents, commuters, and visitors.