Streetscape Would Take 16,535 Sq Ft of Private Property

The six-roundabout version of Leucadia 101 Streetscape would take 16,535 square feet of private or property.

Encroachment locations and figures are from diagrams in Vol 2, Appendix I of the Final EIR:

                                                             Sq Ft                       APN

Between Cadmus & Daphne               360                      256 053 1600

                             256 053 1500

Jupiter                                                     670                      254 221 2400

Grandview                                             1675                      254 021 1600

Pacifica                                                  1040                      254 060 3011

Sea Bluff                                                4880                     254 430 0600

Moorgate                                                  340                     253 430 0500

New Road                                              6000                     216 041 0600

                              216 041 2100             

La Costa SE                                             390                      216 042 1200

La Costa NE                                           1180                      216 042 0500

Total                                                      16535

The Fundamental Streetscape Problem That Won’t Go Away

Long, long ago, if the California Southern Railroad and the early residents of Leucadia had put the tracks and Vulcan Avenue farther east, we wouldn’t have the space problem we have today.

If the planners, surveyors, land owners and concerned citizens had allowed enough room west of the tracks for a commercial zone and parking on the east side of 101, a wider highway and a wider commercial zone on the west side, we wouldn’t be in our unbalanced, squeezed pickle.

We’re stuck with a too-narrow corridor. East to west, it packs Vulcan, the railroad right-of-way, Highway 101 and its median, parallel parking, a sidewalk and a skinny commercial zone into far too little horizontal space.

The Encinitas City Council and the Coastal Mobility & Livability Working Group have said they want the Coastal Rail Trail between Vulcan and the tracks. NCTD won’t say where the Coastal Rail Trail or the second set of tracks will go. NCTD has not yielded the ground for Streetscape’s proposed roundabouts or parking bays.

The Cardiff Coastal Rail trail ranges from 13 to 17 feet wide. For nearly its whole length, the NCTD right-of-way between La Costa Avenue and Encinitas Boulevard is 100 feet wide.

Parking capacity in the Leucadia 101 corridor is woefully low. To equal Solana Beach’s parking capacity, Leucadia 101 would have to add 2,700 spaces. Unless parking goes underground or into two-story garages on the west side of 101, the only place to add the needed spaces is in the NCTD right-of-way between the tracks and the highway.

Leucadia 101 Streetscape’s net gain in parking spaces would be 134. It would add no access from the east and wouldn’t improve what’s already there. The project would restrict driving on 101 and slow transit time by shrinking the highway to two lanes and stuffing its north end with roundabouts. Most visitors enter the corridor from the north. Streetscape would make that entry much harder and would cause more traffic jams. The jams would be single file, so they would double in distance and time compared to the current two-lane jams. Greenhouse gas emissions would also double.

Let’s address the problem that won’t go away. Let’s use the width we have to everybody’s advantage: Coastal Rail Trail and parking between the tracks and Vulcan. Second set of tracks wherever they fit. Parking in the NCTD right-of-way west of the tracks through the whole corridor. Four-lane highway. Blinking crosswalks every one or two blocks, depending on activity. Medians where there are none. No street parking on the west side of 101. Sidewalk on the west side. Bike lanes both ways. Three ped/bike rail crossings north of Leucadia Boulevard and three south.

If implemented, the proposed Streetscape plan will be a nightmare. Let’s avoid that.

Leucadia 101 Main Street Doesn’t Know the Facts About Streetscape

Relatively few Leucadia 101 merchants and property owners are members of the Leucadia 101 Main Street Association (L101). It’s a chamber of commerce in disguise. The City Council gives the group $30,000 of taxpayer money every year because it can’t support itself.

L101 recently published an attack on an anti-Leucadia 101 Streetscape flyer distributed in the neighborhoods by volunteers. Quotes from the L101 attack are below, followed by the facts.

L101: “After construction, Hwy 101 will be a 3 lane highway.”

​Fact: According to the Baker traffic study summary, 85 percent of the 2.4-mile highway would be two lanes, and 15 percent would be four lanes.​

​L101: “There will most likely only be 4 roundabouts through the corridor because La Costa Ave roundabout and ‘New Road’ roundabout will not be constructed if the Encinitas Beach Resort stays on track to begin construction this fall.”​

Fact: The city will do its best to get the La Costa Ave and New Road roundabouts, as opposed to the Encinitas Beach Resort’s preference. Whether there are six or four roundabouts, all but one would be packed into 8/10 mile at the north end, thereby canceling the supposed benefits for the 2.4-mile corridor.​

​L101: “Bird Rock La Jolla’s Streetscape project gives us very good insight into how Leucadia’s Streetscape will function. After construction, Bird Rock saw average daily trips decrease from 21,000-24,000 to 19,500. Bird Rock was a more heavily used corridor than ours.”​

​Fact: Bird Rock is wholly unlike Leucadia 101. Bird Rock is roundabouts at five successive intersections in one-half mile​. Leucadia 101 is all but one roundabout stuffed into 8/10 mile at the north end of a 2.4-mile corridor. Bird Rock has no railroad tracks or freeway nearby. Bird Rock has no extremely long traffic light to back up traffic for up to 1.4 miles. Bird Rock has businesses, residences and parking on both sides of the street. Leucadia 101 is what the Coastal Commission calls the first public road from La Costa Ave to Grandview St. La Jolla Blvd in the Bird Rock area is not the first public road.

​L101: “A major goal of the Streetscape project is to alleviate congestion caused by cut-through traffic and improve auto circulation for residents, beach goers and patrons of Leucadia’s small businesses.”

​Fact: It’s impossible to restrict “cut-through traffic” without restricting all traffic. Shrinking the highway to two narrowed lanes for 85 percent of its length and stuffing the north end with roundabouts would make the current congestion much worse.​

​L101: “A reduction in average daily trips bypassing the I-5 will mean fewer cars on Hwy 101 overall. Traffic calming measures on Hwy 101 are designed to reduce speeds of cars entering neighborhoods and dictate improved driver behavior.”

​Fact: Streetscape is designed to make driving 101 harder. That’s​ how it intends to divert drivers to the freeway. But what it would actually do is increase the neighborhood diversions that already happen. Those increases would go to Vulcan, Neptune and the adjacent side streets.​

​L101: “Beach access is improved with safer Hwy 101 crossings for east-side residents and visitors. Coupled with rail corridor parking pods and the El Portal Rail Undercross, beach access, parking and safety is vastly enhanced.”

​Fact: Streetscape wouldn’t improve or increase access from east of 101. Aside from people who are already west of 101, the overwhelming majority​ of visitors and beachgoers come from the north. As they enter the corridor, they would be immediately squeezed into one narrowed southbound lane and forced through five (maybe three) roundabouts. Highway 101 is the first public road from La Costa Ave to Grandview St and the principal route to the beaches and everything else in Leucadia. By restricting 101, Streetscape would restrict beach access.

Fact: Streetscape doesn’t include the planned El Portal rail undercrossing.

Fact: By lining the east side of 101 with a sidewalk, Streetscape would confine east side parking to the proposed pods. That would actually reduce parking capacity because east side parking is spread through the corridor and often outnumbers the spaces in the proposed pods.

​L101: “Existing emergency response times to northern portions of Leucadia are currently not meeting standards (80% of calls reached in 5 min). To address this, the city of Encinitas has funded a pilot for an emergency response staging area in north Leucadia to meet their goals. Emergency response time to existing problem areas will be reduced and service improved with this measure. Park assist and bike lanes add room for cars to move off the road when ambulances need to return southbound to deliver victims to Scripps. Not to mention, roundabouts decrease auto accidents by 90%.”

​Fact: The Environmental Impact Report revealed that shrinking 101 and stuffing it with roundabouts would increase response times that are already too slow. Streetscape would make the existing problem worse. The city committed $909,000 to relieve the problem for the first two years.

Fact: On a four-lane Highway 101, drivers move to the right lane to let emergency vehicles pass in the left lane. Streetscape adds no advantage to that.

Fact: Little roundabouts at T intersections don’t decrease auto accidents by 90 percent. Those stats are for big roundabouts at four-way intersections.

​L101: Streetscape is safe for bicyclists.

​Fact: The roundabouts would force cyclists out of the bike lane onto the sidewalk, across the crosswalk and back onto the bike lane. Otherwise, cyclists would have to ride in the roundabouts with cars and trucks.​

— Doug Fiske