Olympic and Pico

A Superior Court judge gave a big red light to the city of Los Angeles this morning when he ruled that a plan to make the Westside’s Olympic and Pico boulevards behave more like one-way streets can’t go forward until a study is done of its effects on businesses and residents.

The ruling is a blow to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his ally City Councilman Jack Weiss, both of whom have been pushing the proposal since November. Two Westside groups — one representing businesses and the other homeowners — sued the city to stop the plan.

The idea behind the proposal was to give commuters an easier way to get to and from jobs on the Westside, given that the Santa Monica Freeway is often clogged.

The first part of the plan involved removing street parking along parts of Olympic and Pico during rush hours — leading to complaints from merchants, who said they feared it would frustrate and drive away customers. The city also wants to time traffic signals to stay green longer so that westbound Olympic and eastbound Pico traffic moves faster.

City leaders had planned to start work on the project this week.