Committee approves 15 mph school zone speed limits for 201 schools; LADOT plans sign installations this fiscal year

The Los Angeles City Transportation Committee on April 23 approved LADOT’s recommendation to establish 15-mile-per-hour speed limits in school zones at 343 street segments serving 201 schools and authorized LADOT to install the required signage and related improvements this fiscal year.

LADOT presenters told the committee the program builds on previous Safe Routes to School efforts and uses a prioritization methodology adopted by the City Council on Jan. 15, 2025, to select the 201 schools. The project is budgeted in the Measure M local return fund for fiscal year 2024–25 with $750,000 allocated to complete the work this year.

Kalyn Powell, Central District Transportation Engineer, explained the criteria used to qualify streets for reduced speed zones: a maximum of two total travel lanes, a posted speed limit of 30 mph or less, and classification as a residence district under the California Vehicle Code. Powell said, “This program is in its fourth year and has previously installed the 15 mile an hour when school children are present signs to establish school safety zones at 255 schools across all the council districts.” The department applied the updated school prioritization methodology from council file 23-0306 to produce the current list of 201 schools.

When asked about timing, LADOT staff said signs would begin to appear within two to four weeks after council action and estimated a full installation across the 201 schools could take roughly six to ten weeks, with some committee members hearing it may be a tight turnaround to complete by the end of the fiscal year. Budget questions centered on whether the Mayor’s proposed FY25–26 budget continues funding for this program; LADOT said the FY25–26 proposed budget does not include continuation of this specific sign installation program but does include increased funding for the school speed hump program.

Councilmember Hernandez asked whether funding added for the speed hump program might be redirected to extend school signage work; LADOT staff advised that speed humps are a more costly, self-enforcing infrastructure while signs are a lower-cost tool that can be used to stretch available dollars. LADOT staff agreed to report back on overlaps between sites receiving speed humps and sites receiving 15-mph signage so members could consider spreading interventions across more schools.

The committee approved LADOT’s recommendations by recorded roll call: Councilwoman Heather Hutt — yes; Councilmember Park — yes; Councilmember Hernandez — yes. LADOT said the $750,000 budgeted for the current fiscal year would complete the 201-school scope if the work proceeds on the timeframe described.

Background: LADOT said this year’s list draws from an updated prioritization that increases equity weighting and decreases the safety weight compared with the older Safe Routes to School method; the updated method ranked 1,164 public and private schools citywide and informed the selection of the next 201 schools in the rollout.