Beverly Hills Rejects Plan For Roundabout At 6-Way Intersection

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The City Council on Tuesday declined to pursue a plan to replace one of Los Angeles County's most notorious intersections with a roundabout. Instead, the city is moving forward with a plan to install crosswalks at Canon and Beverly drives and Lomitas Avenue.

Aside from pavement and signs, the intersection has been largely unchanged since it was first built in 1907. There's been interest in improving the nerve-wracking junction since at least the 1990s, but plans never came to fruition. That changed last year, when an illegal street takeover (also known as a "sideshow") prompted the city to consider new plans, according to a report by city staff.

The Traffic and Parking Commission narrowed five options down to three, which the City Council considered Tuesday afternoon. The options included installing crosswalks but keeping the existing layout, transforming the intersection with a roundabout or doing nothing.

While the traffic commissioners unanimously voted to recommend a roundabout last month, the council members were united in their view that a roundabout wouldn't actually be the best way to address the issues at hand — preventing sideshows and improving safety for all road-users — at least based on the data presented by staff.

Despite its complexity, the intersection actually has a low level of crashes: 32 between 2014 and 2022, according to the report. The real trouble for motorists is a high level of conflicts — the kind of "you go, no you go" interactions that frequently happen in the middle of the junction.

The council also had questions about how the roundabout would impact cyclist safety and whether it would slow down fire trucks which frequently pass through the intersection.

The council voted to pursue a plan to install pedestrian sidewalk ramps and crosswalks with flashing lights at the intersection.