Torrance

Despite pleas from business owners, the City Council has voted to eliminate curbside parking along Pacific Coast Highway between Madison Street and Ocean Avenue to improve traffic flow.

Only Councilmen Bill Applegate and Dan Walker voted against the parking ban, which is part of a larger project to improve the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Hawthorne Boulevard.

In addition to adding a third lane on each side of Pacific Coast Highway, the $380,000 project, being carried out in conjunction with the state Transportation Department, includes the replacement of island-mounted left turn signals, new storm drains and double left turn lanes for northbound Hawthorne Boulevard traffic.

Business owners along Pacific Coast Highway between Ocean and Neece avenues had complained that the loss of 39 curb-side parking spaces would leave insufficient parking for their clients.