Caltrans Files Show Missing Street Sign

Caltrans records summarized in an email to Manhattan Beach Patch appear to contradict public statements made by Caltrans staff that a No U-turn sign had not been in place in the median at 8th Street for northbound Sepulveda Boulevard traffic in the past 10 years.

On Dec. 23, 2011, a southbound motorcyclist at a green light on Sepulveda Boulevard and a northbound vehicle making a U-turn on Sepulveda at 8th Street, on the same green light, collided. The motorcyclist died from injuries sustained in the crash.

Manhattan Beach Police Department Sgt. Mark Mason told Patch in a Jan. 5 article, "I think at the very least they need to outlaw the U-turn there [Sepulveda Boulevard at 8th Street]. It may be that you're not even supposed to make a U-turn there. We're missing some signs there. I can see where they were sheared off. The missing signs may have said 'No U-turn.'"

• Related:

City staffers met with Yunus Ghausi, a Caltrans senior transportation engineer, on Jan. 31 to discuss the intersection and its traffic history. The group determined a course of action for signs and the potential future of a protected left-turn lane signal.

• Related: 

Ghausi told Patch on Friday that Caltrans had no knowledge of previous signage in the median facing northbound drivers on Sepulveda Boulevard at 8th Street.

The Daily Breeze newspaper has also reported the same information: "'This particular intersection has never been subject to left-turn and U-turn restrictions,' said Yunus Ghausi, a Caltrans senior transportation engineer."

However, an email from a Caltrans public information officer indicates that Caltrans traffic files show a "restricted" U-turn sign was in place "on median of Sepulveda Boulevard at 8th Street (facing northbound traffic)" in 2003 and that on Feb. 25, 2005, a field review reported the sign was missing. The sign was then re-installed on March 22, 2005, according to Caltrans files.

Caltrans has jurisdiction over Sepulveda Boulevard because it is a state highway. Caltrans also is the entity that approves and installs road signs on the busy highway.