Congresswoman Maxine Waters has secured $4 million in government funding in order to enact street improvements in the City of Hawthorne. These funds will be dedicated to an upcoming construction project that will improve the 1.5-mile stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard between Rosecrans Avenue and the 105 freeway.
It’s estimated that 51,000 vehicles travel along Crenshaw Boulevard every day. The street is a part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s red line, is a popular route to LAX, and also provides access to SpaceX headquarters and an Amazon distribution center, which create additional trucking traffic.
The construction project seeks to ease this traffic and its effects. In order to achieve this goal, the funding will be used to widen intersections, add traffic lanes, upgrade traffic signal systems, improve lane striping, upgrade disabled access ramps, improve public transit efficiency and make other cosmetic improvements to the road. City traffic engineers project that these changes will reduce traffic along the road, foster safer conditions for cyclists, protect pedestrians and improve sidewalk accessibility.
“We’re thrilled that Congresswoman Waters has made this project possible,” said City Manager Vontray Norris. “In addition to protecting pedestrians and cyclists and improving public transit routes, the improvements to our traffic signal system are projected to reduce idling traffic, which will potentially lower emissions and pollution. We’re excited to hit the ground running to put the funds to good use.”
For more information about the upcoming improvements to Crenshaw Boulevard, visit the City’s traffic engineering page at https://www.cityofhawthorne.org/departments/public-works/engineering/traffic-engineering.