STREET WISE: / New Directions : Streets That Drive Cities Around Bend

Every city has miles of streets that work very well--and of course a few that don’t. Here’s a look at the street scene in a number of North County communities--how many miles there are, the oldest and newest ones, and, in the opinion of community leaders, the most troublesome ones.

CARLSBAD

Miles of city streets: About 220 Oldest street: El Camino Real

Newest streets: Spoonbill Lane and Black Rail Court

Most troublesome street: The section of Carlsbad Boulevard that runs south along the beach is the most problematic street, says Mayor Claude Lewis. Too many beach-goers jaywalking across the busy street to get to the beach, and too many speeding motorists have made for too many near accidents, Lewis said.

City police rigorously enforce the speed limits of 45, 35 and 25 m.p.h. along that stretch of beach road. Last year, 1,500 traffic citations were issued, mostly for speeding. Sixty percent of the citations were issued to Carlsbad residents, Lewis said.

“You’re always going to have people cruising Old Highway 101, and you’re always going to have beach-goers--Carlsbad residents and people from outside communities--and there is no way we can make more room for parking for the beach,� Lewis said.

Under ideal circumstances, Lewis would like enough space to build a central parking lot where beach-goers could park and safely walk a short distance to the beach. Some parking facilities do exist now in the area but they are inadequate to handle the great numbers of beach-goers.

DEL MAR

Miles of city streets: 22

Oldest street: Old Highway 101

Newest street: David Way

Most troublesome street: The city has two troublesome corridors, says Mayor Rod Franklin. Camino Del Mar, the main street of the city, is heavily trafficked and backs up frequently, forcing motorists to hunt for alternate routes, and making it difficult for pedestrians to safely cross the street, Franklin said.

Del Mar’s other problematic street is the Stratford Way-Crest corridor, which acts as a pressure valve for the overburdened Camino del Mar, Franklin said.

“Unfortunately, it takes the traffic off the central artery and shoves it basically into the residential parts of the community,� Franklin said. “So, we have two distinctly bad street areas but they are separate manifestations of a single problem.�

The North County Transit District is now working to provide train service along the bluff area of Del Mar. It is a “very fragile environmental area that studies say, depending on the heavy load cycle those bluffs receive, could last as short as 10 years or up to 100 years,� Franklin said.

With no holds barred and an open checkbook, Franklin would like to see the tracks laid in a tunnel underneath Camino del Mar that would give motorists the opportunity to bypass Del Mar if they wanted. At the same time, driving routes parallel to the underground train tracks would be built.

People wishing to drive through or stop in Del Mar would still have the option of driving on Camino del Mar, Franklin said. The likelihood of such an ambitious tunnel project is extremely remote, he said, in large part because of the expense.

“It would be a nice way of alleviating traffic problems and helping out with the transit issue of replacing and relocating trackage in the future,� Franklin said.

ENCINITAS

Miles of city streets: 153

Oldest street: Old Highway 101

Newest street: Rancho De Mayo

Most troublesome street: Crest Drive (south of Santa Fe Drive), a two-lane, north-south local street, has received the most publicity as being a problem street, says Mayor Maura Wiegand. The partial closure of the heavily trafficked street set up a chain reaction of street problems, she said.

It was in 1988, at the request of Crest Drive residents and after numerous hearings, that the city closed the northbound side of the street to through traffic, Wiegand said. Motorists had to take nearby Lake Drive, another two-lane, heavily trafficked local street. Combined with the elimination of Crest as a route, congestion became impossible.

“You could say in a sense that both of these streets are a problem, the Crest-Lake situation that we have,� Wiegand said, adding that it pitted the two neighborhoods against each other. “The closure caused great congestion and a lot of dissatisfaction in the community.�

After almost four years, however, a resolution to the Crest Drive-Lake Drive controversy may be in sight. Within the next few months, an analysis of the Crest Drive situation will be submitted to the Traffic Commission and the Planning Commission for a recommendation before going before the City Council for another hearing on whether to reopen Crest Drive.

ESCONDIDO

Miles of city streets: 278.7

Oldest street: Grand Avenue

Newest street: Brava Place

Most troublesome street: In recent years, Bear Valley Parkway has literally become a bear because it is bearing the brunt of increased traffic from Valley Center to the North County Fair shopping mall and Interstate 15. Mayor Jerry Harmon says the roadway needs major improvements to handle the load.

Plans to widen the parkway--which is only two lanes in most sections with passing lanes in other sections--have been scheduled but it could take as many as eight years to see those improvements come to fruition, Harmon said. Because of the length of the parkway, among other factors, the work needs to be done in sections.

“It needs to be a full four lanes from one end to the other,� Harmon said of the parkway. “And part of it is in the county as well, so we would have to work cooperatively with the county in order to accomplish the completed project.�

OCEANSIDE

Miles of city streets: 325 miles

Oldest street: Mission Avenue

Newest streets: Cortera Way and Pantagonia Way

Most troublesome street: Mission Avenue has the dubious distinction of being a street and a state highway, therefore the city shares jurisdiction with the state. Any resolution of a traffic problem on this avenue is difficult and time consuming, said Mayor Lawrence Bagley.

Heavily traveled, Mission Avenue has been the site of a number of traffic-related deaths over the years, Bagley said. The mayor said the main thoroughfare was supposed to have been replaced by a state highway 20 years ago, but it hasn’t been done yet.

“We’ve inherited all the problems of a state highway on a street,� Bagley said. “In an ideal situation, I would have Highway 76 fully built to expressway standards and the jurisdiction of traffic returned to the city of Oceanside,� he said.

POWAY

Miles of city streets: 139

Oldest street: Pomerado Road

Newest street: South Poway Expressway

Most troublesome street: Mayor Jan Goldsmith says that Poway Grade--the eastern 2 1/2 miles of Poway Road--is the city’s biggest street headache. The two-lane road, which used to be an old wagon trail, is carrying double the number of cars it can comfortably handle. And, until recently, it lacked some of the safety features that modern roads have.

Last year, the first of two improvement phases was completed on Poway Grade. It included installing an base so the road wouldn’t fall apart, repaving the road, adding guardrails and a passing lane.

“It’s still the old wagon trail in disguise,� Goldsmith said.

The second phase is construction of the South Poway Expressway, a high-speed, six-lane expressway that will bypass Poway Grade between California 67 and Interstate 15. The midsection was completed during Phase One last year; in Phase Two, the western section will be completed sometime this year and the eastern section between I-15 and Poway Industrial Park will be completed by 1995, Goldsmith said.

“It will be a complete bypass of the old wagon trail called Poway Grade,� Goldsmith said. “We will make Poway Grade into a scenic route,� he said, adding that he would like to see the route include a historic monument with stage coaches that served the public in the past.

SAN MARCOS

Miles of city streets: 112

Oldest streets: Grand Avenue and Twin Oaks Valley Road

Newest streets: South Twin Oaks Valley Road, Barham Drive, Las Posas, Borden Road

Most troublesome street: San Marcos Boulevard and California 78 present the biggest road challenges to the city because a full redesign of the state highway’s on- and off-ramps is needed to accommodate the burgeoning traffic coming off the widened boulevard, said Mayor Lee Thibadeau. After almost a decade of wrangling with the state Department of Transportation over where the funding was to come from, design on the highway project has recently begun but firm construction dates have not been set.

“When we widened San Marcos Boulevard south of 78, that allowed more traffic to flow that was otherwise finding alternative routes or lined up on that single lane,� Thibadeau said. “We’re paying for most of the cost of this state project (the redesign of California 78) instead of having to wait another 10 years,� he said.

The price tag for redesigning and constructing California 78’s ramps will be about $9.2 million, Thibadeau said. It is still not known exactly how much of the tab the city of San Marcos will pick up, but Thibadeau said he believes it will be in excess of $4 million. “Our city’s emphasis for the past 12 years has been on road improvement,� Thibadeau said. “We spend four times more per capita than any city in the county, and probably in the state, on roads. We are one of the few cities in the state using a large amount of our general fund to get the roads up to the standard we want to see,� he said.

SOLANA BEACH

Miles of city streets: 42

Oldest Street: Old Highway 101

Newest Street: Via La Senda

Most troublesome street: Lomas Santa Fe Drive wins hands down for the most troublesome street award, said Mayor Celine Olson. The major thoroughfare is the only east-west corridor within the city limits, and it is misaligned, Olson said.

Before Solana Beach became a city, the county of San Diego built Lomas Santa Fe Drive in such a way that it doesn’t line up with the city’s traffic signal system, Olson said. Loosely translated: “It’s virtually impossible to get the proper timing so people don’t have to stop at every light,� the mayor said.

“Unfortunately, we became a city a little late to really control this,� Olson said. “The only real permanent answer is to realign the street, but that’s a virtual impossibility because we have built so many structures, offices, condos and schools, and there’s no way to realign at this point. So, what we will have to do is wait and see if there is some future electronic marvel that will solve the problem for us.�

VISTA

Miles of city streets: about 200

Oldest streets: East Vista Way and Santa Fe Avenue

Newest street: Baxter Canyon and Eastbrook

Most troublesome street: Melrose Avenue, a major arterial in the community, has simply become too small for the city, says Mayor Gloria McClellan.

“Melrose, the old road, has been there before Vista was a city,� McClellan said. “We have about a $30-million intersection at Melrose near the courthouse that needs to be built because right now it’s very insufficient,� she said.

Construction on an underpass to relieve the heavily trafficked area has already started, but the city has to wait to construct an overpass until enough money can be raised, the mayor said.

FALLBROOK

Miles of county road: 104

Oldest street: Main Street

Newest street: Cancun Court

Most troublesome street: Traffic congestion and speeding motorists cause problems on a number of streets in this community. However, residents have done something to successfully take back their Main Street from big truck traffic, said Vince Ross, president of the Fallbrook Village Assn. In the downtown area, there has been a campaign of sorts to make Main Street more “pedestrian friendly,� and it is working so far, Ross said.

With the cooperation of the county’s traffic advisory committee, Fallbrook citizens were able to get heavy truck traffic rerouted from Main Street to Mission Avenue, Ross said. Until recently, diesel-spewing big rigs were allowed on Main Street, making it unsafe for pedestrians and unpleasant for shoppers and patrons of the outdoor restaurants that line the street.

Within two weeks, after a request was submitted by Fallbrook residents to the county, signs were posted at the two entrances to Main Street prohibiting trucks over a certain weight, Ross said.

“It’s a community goal that was recently achieved, and our town feels it improves the quality of life on Main Street,� Ross said. “It would be harsh (for the trucks) if we didn’t have another route, but we have a four-lane bypass with Mission.�

RANCHO SANTA FE

Miles of county road: 93

Oldest street: Paseo Delicias

Newest street: Via Ambeinte

Most troublesome street: According to Walt Ekard, manager of the Rancho Santa Fe Assn., many of the narrow, winding roads in the community are problematic because they were designed in 1928 when speeding motorists and traffic jams were foreign concepts. But the most notorious route would have to be Paseo Delicias-Del Dios Highway because it is the main artery through the Ranch that commuters use to get from Escondido to the coast or vice versa, Ekard said.

“Traffic backs up in the morning and evening up to a mile deep at times,� Ekard said. “It’s the major road to the Ranch, and it’s considered the worst.�

To ease the east-west burden on Paseo Delicias and Del Dios Highway, Ekard looks south to California 56, which is being built from Rancho Penasquitos to Del Mar. Inland commuters bound for the coast and vice versa could use the new highway, thus alleviating the traffic on Rancho Santa Fe’s regional road system.

“The completion of 56, we believe, is the key to traffic in this region,� Ekard said. “It is to the south of us, but the building of that road is critical to everyone in this region, it’s the guts, the key to it.�

VALLEY CENTER

Miles of county road: 157

Oldest street: California 67

Newest street: Shiloh Lane

Most troublesome street: It is unanimous among members of the community’s chamber of commerce that the two-lane Valley Center Road creates the most problems, said Lisa Lewis, office manager for the chamber.

Like many other rural North County communities, Valley Center has in recent years been deluged with more traffic than its roads were designed to handle. Lewis said that besides the heavy traffic, motorists routinely drive at least 10 miles faster than the posted 45 m.p.h. speed limit, and the absence of a center divider on Valley Center Road makes for numerous major and minor accidents.

Lewis said plans are on the table to widen Valley Center to four lanes and build a center divider. A date has not been set but construction is expected to begin in 1995, she said.