From the inbox-"A drunk driver mowed down two trees Monday around 2pm, narrowly missing numerous cars, motorhomes and a motorcycle. The cops caught up with the vehicle (with a limb of one tree still attached) and arrested one man. The man said it wasn't him but a friend driving his car who split. Yeah right."
Poor Fred Caldwell, he has tried everything to make that little center median in front of his business look nice. He plants flowers, they bloom and the city sprays them with poison. He maintains trees and they are mysteriously cut down. Now what little was left (including a California Oak that sprouted up there) was destroyed by another 101 nitwit driver...
Leucadia Blog: Invasion of the canopy snatchers....
All of this death and mayhem are signs that roundabouts are needed.
ReplyDeleteDeath last year, 120 mph racing and accidents with Motorcycles and Ferraris last weekend, and now this. That road is a travesty.
Think of how many kids are crossing Hwy101 to go to the beach. I am happily surprised that a kids haven’t been bowled over yet.
If you cannot drive through a roundabout, you should not be driving.
The roundabouts will slow and discourage the drunks, speeders and I5 cut through traffic. All good for Leucadia.
I cannot wait for the Streetscape Improvements to begin.
There will be no roundabouts on the coast highway. NCTD won't give up 9 feet of dirt and the city can't afford to buy out 10 or more property owners who would have to give up 9 feet of their buildings.
ReplyDeleteIf they work bus stop alcoves in with the approaching roundabouts, problem solved. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of trees... I live right very near Fred's shop, just up from 101, and I have been perplexed by the mysterious cutting down of trees. Also, it seems that anytime we have any mildly windy nights, several trees are mysteriously blown so far over that they're then removed. Somebody is a tree-hater around here, and I can't figure out why. Also, has anybody noticed that 101's guardrails are present only in places that have (used to have) large, potentially vehicle-stopping eucalyptus? The didn't guardrail the whole stretch and, god forbid, protect newly-planted trees against drunk jackasses. They just guardrailed the sections where said jackass might hurth himself by hitting a big tree. Backward priorities my friends. We should have guardrails (with pedestrian openings) all along the median, and plant trees all over. Trees along 101 have been one of Leucadia's defining characteristics for 100 years. PS - I think we should put out a bounty on the Tree Killer.
ReplyDeleteThe streetscape will serve NCTD objectives of getting more people out of cars and using alternative and public transportation. The City just needs to go talk to higher level staff like the District Manager or place the item on the agenda of a Board meeting and have 300 Leucadians show up to represent.
ReplyDeleteJust because at a meeting with low level NCTD staff, the NCTD staff say no easements will be granted doesn't mean the easements will not be obtained. This is a ridiculous assumption. And anyone basing making this assumption is an idiot.
Go look at the area and easements/license agreements needed to complete the pedestrian crossing in Solana Beach and the 4 planned for Encinitas. They have much greater encroachments.
Go look at the bridges and road crossings and all the encroachments around the train stations at Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Encinitas and Oceanside.
Go look at the encroachments of the Landscaped and parking area down by Chesterfield, it has much more than a 9 foot encroachment.
NCTD has encroachments well beyond 9 feet along its right-of-way from Del Mar up through Oceanside. These few 9 foot encroachments would have no impact on the future double track coming soon.
NCTD has and will give up 9 foot easements along its Right-of-Way. The issue just hasn't elevated high enough at this point in time.
With the political will of the City, the 9 foot easements will happen. The Streetscape should continue on with Roundabouts with the 9 foot easements where needed as preferred by a huge majority of those attending the workshops. Logic will prevail.
the Roundabouts without eminent domain of private property should happen. There is no reason why they can't.
Hey Reality Check -
ReplyDeleteWake up and smell the logic.
If the roundabout was there, he would of plowed through it and killed himself - EXACTLY WHAT WE WANT - versus hitting a mom with a stroller.
ReplyDeleteF'ing drunk bastards.
kind regards,
Jack
Jack has it right.
ReplyDeleteThe drunks chose to drink and drive.
City's need to protect the innocent like mom's and kids walkin to shops and the beach.
With the roundabouts the drunk will not be going fast enough to kill himself, but he may crash and have to pay for his actions- perfect solution to a nasty problem.
Pave the 101 with cobblestones so people won't be able to drive over 25.
ReplyDeleteAnother good idea.
ReplyDeleteLeucadians are ingenious!
This is the primary reason I don't ride my bike in the bike lanes. Every day I see drivers - drunk or not - drifting out of their lanes and generally displaying severe driving ineptitude.
ReplyDeleteYou must have trouble with spelling, I'm sure you meant to say ignormous instead of ingenious.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:59 >>>Just because at a meeting with low level NCTD staff...
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The past leadership of NCTD was a big bully. Maybe the fresh blood will improve that. If not, the 300+ [angry] Leucadians should rise up on this and the other health, safety and general quality of life issues. Any speed limits, noise limits, etc that are in effect in San Clemente, Del Mar, Downtown SD should be honored here as well. Also, please bury the track.
Years ago Leucadia Town Council fixed up the first median North of Leucadia Blvd. The got a nice CONCRETE berm to skirt it that bounces most out of control cars back onto the road. Unfortunately, the recent 6 median enhancements got asphalt berms, but they're better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteYears before that when the state granted Encinitas a quarter million dollars to enhance the Hwy 101, I asked once again to have concrete berms installed on the medians instead of the rusty guardrails that were about to replace older rusty guardrails. I drew attention to the fact that El Camino Real has plenty of trees in their median (as do countless cities) and they don't need a guardrail to protect the trees.
Back in the 40's when the speed limit was 60mph, people were getting creamed left and right on the Hwy and they DID need the guardrails so that's when they were installed. (Prior to that the trees were paint WHITE at the bases to be better seen in thick fog). But when I-5 opened, the speed limit went down 20mph on 101.
As a reason to not do what I requested, one Council member said that "El Camino Real has the kind of trees that bend over when you hit them and that's why they don't need guardrails there". Yeah right.
We got the guard rails instead. Now most of them deflect cars from tree ghosts.
Of course the new Streetscape promises lower speed limits, traffic calming, proper curbing and no guardrails. But what a journey it's been to get to that point!
But I did see the out of control hit and run drunk who narrowly missed a dozen people and cars, and it's a pretty agrivating to watch two trees that were planted 5years ago (by Richard at the BUZZ)dissapear in 3 seconds.
Richard is cool, along with LuLu and Bruiser!!
ReplyDeleteWas he drunk? Or did he just overcompensate and drive into the death trap? Point being, this "median" is a death trap. Long stretches of road without speed control on the most beautiful streets in San Diego -- we have seen plenty of motorcyles revving down this street, running stop signs, etc. Born to be Wild is alive and kicking on the 101. A curb will turn a wheel unless the speed and point of impact is at optimum convergence, i.e., we all die.
ReplyDeleteBorat- You see things in such an interesting perspective.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with addressing the Born to be Wild aspect. I never see cops on southbound N. Coast Hwy101. They could give hundreds of tickets on Sunday afternoon for racing motorcycles with illegal straight pipes.
The City has refused to address the problem. So now we are getting more and more straight pipes running along Hwy101.
Sundays are no longer a day of rest. Sunday is a day for Racing along Hwy101. Thanks City for continually ignoring the problem.
RibEye,
ReplyDeleteDo you have a vision for "burying the track"?
It's a great idea, but I can't even imagine how it might be done. Say the project endpoints were La Costa and Chesterfield--then, what about downtown and the bridge over Encinitas Blvd?
Running the track under Encinitas Blvd. would require a downtown subway station.
Hey, wait a minute--then we'd have a bomb shelter to complement our hilltop bunker!
But seriously. Putting the tracks underground would really improve Encinitas and our standard of living. They've been doing similar projects in Europe for decades.
P.S. Isn't that Jerome on the cover of The Coast News (06/13/08) riding the Tilt-A-Whirl? (The guy in the red shirt wearing Jerome's signature dark glasses and stepping into oblivion.)