Leucadia 101 Is Not Like Bird Rock

The city of Encinitas and other Leucadia 101 Streetscape supporters say the roundabouts in the Bird Rock stretch of La Jolla Boulevard are a precedent for the success they claim Streetscape would be. It’s a false claim. Here’s why:

• Bird Rock is roundabouts at five successive intersections in half a mile. Four are at four-way intersections. One is at a T. Leucadia 101 is 2.4 miles. Five of the six roundabouts proposed are in 8/10 mile at the north end. The sixth is 1.2 miles south. All six roundabouts are at T intersections.

Stuffing five roundabouts at the north end can’t calm traffic for 2.4 miles. Bird Rock’s one lane and roundabouts slow traffic for half a mile.

Nearly the entire Leucadia 101 corridor would be one traffic lane in each direction. The placement of the roundabouts would leave 80 percent of the roadway for drivers to speed in one lane as they do now in two.

• Bird Rock has businesses, residences and parking on both sides of the street. Leucadia 101 has them on one side. Streetscape proposes to replace the illegal dirt parking on the east side with legal parking in three places opposite popular businesses. NCTD has not agreed to surrender the space for the proposed parking.

• La Jolla Boulevard has no extraordinarily long traffic light in the Bird Rock area. The extremely long light at Leucadia Boulevard backs up traffic two lanes wide for up to 1.4 miles. By shrinking 101 to one lane in each direction, Streetscape would double the time and distance of the traffic jams.

• There are neither railroad tracks adjacent to La Jolla Boulevard in the Bird Rock area nor a freeway nearby. Leucadia 101 is 50 feet away from railroad tracks and about half a mile from the I-5 freeway. The RR crossing at Leucadia Boulevard and Vulcan Avenue stalls the traffic at that complex intersection. Not so at Bird Rock. Whenever the freeway plugs, hundreds of drivers spill onto 101. Not so at Bird Rock.

• La Jolla Boulevard in the Bird Rock area is not what the California Coastal Commission calls the first public road. The term identifies the public road closest to the ocean. It’s about access to the beach. At Bird Rock there are up to four streets between La Jolla Boulevard and the shoreline. Leucadia 101 is the first public road between La Costa Avenue and Grandview Street. From there south, Neptune Avenue is the first public road. But since Neptune is one way northbound, it limits access from 101 to the beach south of Grandview. Drivers can’t get to Leucadia beaches without first driving on or crossing Leucadia 101, making it the principal access to the beaches.

It’s surprising that Streetscape supporters keep making the Bird Rock argument because it has no foundation in fact.

— Doug Fiske

Encinitas Residents Coalition Files Environmental Lawsuit Against Streetscape

On April 30, 2018, the Encinitas Residents Coalition filed a CEQA lawsuit against the city of Encinitas in Superior Court. The suit challenges the city’s action in approving the North Coast Highway 101 Streetscape project, which, the coalition says, fails to adequately consider significant adverse impacts on residents and the environment.

The plan to improve the Leucadia 101 corridor has ballooned into a $30 million project that would reduce the travel lanes to one in each direction, add six roundabouts, require the 24/7 placement of an emergency vehicle, and transform the scenic corridor into a drivers’ nightmare.

“The traffic along this section of the Coast Highway is already congested on a regular basis. For the City Council to think the reduction in travel lanes will alleviate it is magical thinking,” said coalition member Bob Hemphill.

In certifying the Environmental Impact Report for the project at its March 21, 2018 council meeting, the city approved the project despite its unavoidable adverse impacts on traffic circulation and emergency services.

“The city’s cavalier attitude toward the health and safety of its residents is shocking,” said coalition member Doug Fiske after Councilman Tony Kranz voiced support for the project and said he didn’t share the concern about emergency services.

“The Encinitas Residents Coalition wants the city to stop penalizing residents in favor of commercial and other special interests,” said coalition President Leah Bissonette.