Beverly Hills Installs Touch-Free Lights At 70% Of Intersections

BEVERLY HILLS —If you’re crossing a busy street in downtown Beverly Hills – to the extent those still exist – you no longer need to worry about catching COVID-19 from pressing the crosswalk button. This week, the Beverly Hills Community Development and Public Works Departments have activated touchless, timed crossings at 58 signalized City intersections. Signs at each crossing let pedestrians know not to press the buttons.

City Engineer Daren Grilley said that crews have been installing the timers for the past two weeks, following a recommendation of the National Association of City Transportation Officials on different ways municipalities can stop the spread of COVID-19. (Grilley noted that various intersections in Los Angeles and West Hollywood have also implemented this change.) Instead of monitoring the actual presence of cars and pedestrians, traffic lights are told to assume that pedestrians are always present, and display a “Walk” symbol every 60-90 seconds.

According to Grilley, all traffic lights used to work like that, and 10% of the City’s traffic lights still do, with most of them in (normally) pedestrian-heavy areas in the Business Triangle downtown. In normal traffic, this system can unnecessarily increase congestion by having cars regularly stop even when there are no pedestrians. However, the Safer at Home Order means that is no longer a concern, and the system is now in place at 70% of city intersections.

However, Grilley said the new system is only temporary. “As the pandemic eases and life returns to normal, we will restore the traffic signals to normal operation while continuing to emphasize pedestrian safety in how we program traffic signal operations,” he wrote in an email.