Leucadia's coastal 101 corridor is the topic of today's Just Fix It column in the SDUT.
Pleas for Coast Highway stop sign awaiting officials' green light in Encinitas
By Ruth McKinnie Braun
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 10, 2007
THE PROBLEM: Larry Simondes didn't want anyone to die before the city of Encinitas installed a stop sign on North Coast Highway 101 at Athena Street, near busy restaurants and shops.
But in January, a 29-year-old man died after his car was hit when he made a left turn onto Coast Highway. The vehicle that hit him was going 80 mph.
Simondes and others who live off Athena pleaded to the City Council for a stop sign. This wasn't Simondes' first appeal for help, either.
A traffic study was conducted earlier, but a sign was not installed. There's a stoplight north of Athena at Leucadia Boulevard and a stop sign that was added in 1984 to the south at Marcheta Street after a woman was killed crossing the street. The distance between the two is nearly a mile.
With an estimated 20,000 cars a day using the highway – many to avoid Interstate 5 – Simondes said a stop sign would make Coast Highway much safer. “You'd keep it from being a raceway,” he said.
STATUS: Just Fix It called Encinitas Traffic Engineer Rob Blough, who said the city is starting an effort to improve the look and safety of Coast Highway. Public hearings at which Simondes and others can again appeal for a stop sign will be held, but the improvements could be years away.
WHO'S RESPONSIBLE: Rob Blough, who can be reached at (760) 633-2790 or rblough@ci.encinitas.ca.us.
Wow, all you have to is contact Rob Blough and the all the coast highway safety issues will be solved!
Leucadia Blog: Leucadia Blvd Intersection Brutal all Weekend
Rob Blough sent me this e-mail on May 15 2007
Dear JP,
Thanks for the input on the signal operation at Leucadia/101/Vulcan. I just made a signal timing change that I think will help address the problem in the westbound direction on Leucadia for the time being. The problem is exacerbated on busy Saturday weekends when everyone is leaving Beacons at 101. I am programming our central traffic control computer to document the green time for each signal movement on Saturday and will use this data to develop a special timing plan for those busy times.
I will also request that Public Works schedule repainting of the white dashed lane line in the middle of the intersection for the westbound dual left turns. This should help better designate the left turn movements.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely,
Rob Blough
Traffic Engineer
_______________________
Rob Blough, PE, TE, PTOE
City Traffic Engineer
City of Encinitas
505 S. Vulcan Avenue
Encinitas, CA 92024
RBlough@ci.encinitas.ca.us
760-633-2705
I noticed yesterday that the westbound Vulcan and 101 lights are finally synced to green. This seemed to help the traffic flow a lot. The intersection still desperately needs repaving and repainting though. Last weekend an SUV full of beach girls were in the left turn lane and cut off three cars by going straight to Beacon's. Lots of screeching tires and honking were the result but no collision this time. Rob Blough seems like a nice guy, hopefully the city will give him the resources he needs to improve this intersection asap.
A 3 way stop at this location is sorely needed now. As well as one at Grandview.
ReplyDeleteI bet Teresa and Maggie would go for them. All you people should focus your attention on getting one more vote from Jerome, Jim, or Danny. Even with people dieing along Slaughter Alley, I bet that won’t be an easy thing to accomplish.
Rob will do what council tells him to do. Council should do what is best for Encinitas and what the majority of people tell them they want to improve quality of life for Encinitas residents.
The council is not supposed to be looking out for Carlsbad’s interests over Encinitas residents’ interests. Our council was elected by us to represent Encinitas interests and act accordingly to protect or improve our quality of life.
Keep up the pressure and get it done!!!
Email council at:
ReplyDeletecouncil@ci.encinitas.ca.us
End tell them 3 way stops are needed at Athena and Grandview.
It would cost near nothing
They've know about the problem for years but have done nothing.
Get er done quickly. Like next week!!
The problem is not just at Athena St. and Grandview, but for the entire North Coast Hwy 101 from La Costa Ave. to Encinitas blvd. Living here for 45 years, I can recall accidents and deaths happening at just about every intersection on this stretch of Hwy. The long term answers are that the speed limit needs to be lowered to 30mph and strictly enforced as they do in Carlsbad. Then 101 needs to become one lane south to enable "traffic calming", create more parking and design safer bike routes.Perhaps interim Stop signs wouldn't be a bad idea, but when many drivers get up to 70 mph between the stops anyway, what's the use?
ReplyDeleteSorry, this is off topic, but addresses a critical issue concerning the future of our city.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hallpropertypark.com
They can't enforce speed in this city now. The deputies are to busy making sure no one runs off with A Starbucks. Traffic enforcement is a joke. So we need other alternatives.
ReplyDeleteMake hwy 101 so inconvenient no pone wants to use it as an alternative to the freeway. That's what Del Mar did. and it greatly reduced traffic but caused big back-ups during rush hour.
If it only were a rush hour.
ReplyDeleteThere should also be one at Cadmus St. Has anyone on city council tried to pull out left from Cadmus after a stop at the Liquor Store? If you CAN see around the cars parked in front of the liquor store you are still apt to get hit by someone flying down the coast at 70 mph.
ReplyDelete