It's always been a mystery why Highland Avenue through the heart of Hollywood is so poorly engineered—especially the lack of left-turn signals at Hollywood Boulevard, given the number of vehicles that pass through the intersection. Well, Councilman Tom LaBonge says things will get better now that the state on Friday relinquished its control over Highland (it had been designated state highway route 170) and blessed the city with $3.2 million to make improvements. From LaBonge's newsletter:

This first phase of street improvements at Highland and Franklin will also include installation of dedicated right-hand turn lanes, new street lights, street trees and new traffic signals. Traffic is expected to be severely congested during construction, which is expected to take six months. Motorists are strongly urged to avoid using Highland in favor of alternate routes like Vine Street.

Via L.A. City Nerd, who also blogs his critique of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's seemingly ragged commencement speech last week at USC. Sample: "The Mayor's mispronounced words and references to the Westwood Bruins solicited comments and shaking heads (and even good-natured boos) from the Trojan crowd."