Improvements to traffic signals, bicycle lanes, pedestrian areas, new buses and a shuttle service from the Expo Light Rail train station are among the proposed projects Culver City is submitting for grant funding consideration under a Los Angeles County program.

The City Council approved a motion to send the grant applications under consideration to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday night, which will distribute more than $100 million under its 2011 grant cycle.

There is less money to go around this year compared with the last time a call for projects went out in 2009, when more than $330 million was allocated, according to the city’s staff report.

The proposed projects include:

▪ Adaptive Control System: With 102 traffic signals operated and maintained by the city, new technology will adjust traffic signal timing according to real-time traffic updates. The system currently in place adjusts signals based on previous traffic studies. Estimated cost: $1.3 million.

“We have a system that is currently in place, which is helpful but unfortunately doesn’t allow for real-time traffic data," Helen Kerstein of the city's public works department told the City Council. "This would be one further improvement to our traffic control system, which would allow it to be more efficient than it is today."

▪ Overland Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard Bicycle Improvements: As park visitors increase at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, concern grows for pedestrians who run across traffic lanes on Jefferson Boulevard. A proposed project would include construction of sidewalks and bike lanes along the north and south side of Jefferson Boulevard and a crosswalk and traffic signal at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Hetzler Road. Also proposed is installation of bicycle facilities on Overland. Estimated cost: $1.1 million.

▪ Articulated Bus Maintenance Facility and Bus Stop Enhancements: In 2007, the city received funding to purchase six articulated buses—vehicles that bend in the middle with an accordion-like midsection and allow for greater seating capacity.

The next step is to gain funding for maintenance equipment, additional construction at the city’s maintenance building and bus stop enhancements, which would include concrete and sidewalk work. Estimated cost: Unavailable in staff report. Calls to city staff were not returned.

▪ Expo Light Rail Feeder Shuttle Service Vehicles: The grant will pay for three shuttles that would connect train riders with downtown Culver City and the Hayden Tract employment centers. Estimated cost: $360,000.

The councilmen were supportive of all the projects, but Councilman Jeffrey Cooper and Vice Mayor Micheal O’Leary expressed concern for a delay in funding since money won’t be distributed for five years. The pedestrian improvements near the scenic overlook may come too late.

“My gut tells me that in between those years of waiting, something bad is going to happen across that boulevard and then we will have to react in lieu of waiting for that grant,” Cooper said.

O’Leary agreed as well, calling the situation an accident waiting to happen.

“It saddens me that we have to have accidents, possibly deaths on the roadway to prove that this is an area that this is absolutely needed,” O’Leary said. “I got an e-mail today stating that there are women bringing children, toddlers running across the street and there is traffic traveling at 50 miles an hour at a blind bend. If there is no funding, then we need to find a way, somehow.

"Maybe it’s the state park's fault they didn’t mitigate properly. I don’t understand how you open a park and expect nobody to come. It just doesn’t make any sense at all."

Charles D. Herbertson, the city's director of public works, told the City Council that staffers have submitted the project for consideration under a different grant—the Highway Safety Improvement Program. The money could be available as early as the new fiscal year, but since there is no guarantee “we went ahead and put the project to be considered by Metro,” he said.

The city expects to hear whether the projects are approved or denied for grant funding in June.