City Council Discusses Possible Traffic Signal

On Feb. 10, the Cerritos City Council approved a report that said a traffic signal on Carmenita Road and Ashworth Place does not meet specifications for installation.

The same report provided further analysis of a possible u-turn sign at the same spot. Also, a web-based Graphical Information Systems mapping tool was approved for launch by the council.

City staff delivered a report on the possibility of a traffic signal on Carmenita Road and Ashworth Place.

Cerritos resident and local blogger, Randy Economy, who lives just between Ashworth Place and Rose Street said that with the increased traffic in that area, crossing the street has become very dangerous.

“To be able to get from one side of Carmenita to the other, it’s impossible,” Economy said. “You can’t do it. Rose is no better. Rose is just as bad.”

Kanna Vancheswaran, Cerritos’ assistant city engineer, addressed the specifics of the analysis. According to Vancheswaran, Transportation Services Inc. set up equipment in the middle of January to make the proper evaluations on whether or not a traffic signal is justified and if other restrictions should be made such as limiting u-turns.

According to the data, no specifications were met for justifying the installation of a traffic signal.

“They set up equipment whereby we could obtain 24-hour accounts of vehicles going north, south, east and west into the intersection,” Vancheswaran said. “They also manned the intersection so that they could physically count the number of vehicles making u-turns and left and right turns.”

During another portion of the meeting, Robert A. Lopez, the current planning manager, delivered a report on a web-based GIS mapping tool which was developed in-house by Cerritos’ GIS division.

“This program is designed to be flexible and to add on additional information as time goes on,” Lopez said.

According to Lopez, the mapping tool was developed to provide 24-hour access to residents and respective businesses to the city’s land use and property information. All information is provided from Cerritos’ files. Councilwoman Carol Chen finds the tool very informative.

“This makes it extremely user-friendly, it seems like,” Chen said.

The Cerritos GIS mapping tool can be accessed at www.cerritosgis.com.

Regarding the pending legislation in Sacramento on Gov. Brown’s budget proposal, City Manager Art Gallucci said there are numerous bills being proposed on how cities operate.  There are three bills coming out that will control auditing. One issue being monitored closely is the proposal’s affect on redevelopment agencies.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 24. Please check www.cerritos.us for updates on the upcoming agenda.