San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
CARLSBAD ADVANCES PROPOSAL FOR STRETCH OF HIGHWAY 101
Plan would add roundabouts, move southbound lanes
Parts of a one-mile stretch of Carlsbad Boulevard — the historic Highway 101 — will move east, shrink from four to two lanes and get three roundabouts under a plan headed to the Carlsbad City Council this summer.
Two city commissions recommended the council’s approval of the plan last week, supporting the proposal to move some lanes back from the beach and to replace traffic lights with roundabouts at the intersections of Palomar Airport Road, Solamar Drive and Island Way.
Called the South Carlsbad Boulevard coastline climate adaptation project, the initial planning and design is funded by a State Coastal Conservancy grant of about $500,000 awarded to study ways to make the highway more resilient to flooding and sea-level rise. So far there’s no money for construction, though additional state and federal grant money may be available.
“I love that we are doing a climate adaptation project,” Beach Preservation Commission Chair Kathleen Steindlberger said at the group’s meeting Wednesday. “I love that we are moving the road eastward.”
The project has been well publicized and yet it remains somewhat controversial, she said, in part because of a focus on the proposed roundabouts and lane reductions.
“You might get more buyin from people if you just tell them this road is going to be inundated with sea-level rise ... and this is a project we have to do,” Steindlberger said. “It’s inevitable, and it’s less expensive to do it ahead of time rather than as an emergency project.”
The grant will not pay for environmental analysis or construction, and there’s no money for it in the city’s current or next year’s capital improvement budget.
Members of the Beach Preservation Commission and the Traffic and Mobility Commission, which met Tuesday, both voted unanimously to support the proposal.
Most of the objections raised so far have been to the lane reductions and roundabouts. Some residents say Carlsbad Boulevard would have trouble handling the traffic, especially when traffic on Interstate 5 becomes clogged and overflows onto the coastal route. Yet multiple studies show the features are safer and would improve traffic.
Some sections of the old coastal highway already have been reduced from four lanes to two in Encinitas and in Carlsbad, improving safety without impeding traffic.
“Going down to one lane each way is pretty much inevitable, and we should do it,” traffic Commissioner Pete Penseyres said at a meeting Tuesday.
Statistics presented by Tom Franks, Carlsbad transportation director and city engineer, show roundabouts reduce fatal collisions by 90 percent over traffic signals at intersections. Injury in collisions are reduced by 67 percent. Noise and emissions are less because most cars slow but don’t stop, which also improves fuel efficiency.
Still, the primary reason for the proposed changes is the threat of the rising sea level.
The low-lying southbound lanes are closed during the highest tides of the year, when waves carry rocks and sand onto the pavement. The northbound lanes are at a higher elevation, separated by a wide, landscaped median. Those lanes would remain in place and only the southbound lanes would be moved.
More sidewalks, bike lanes and parking would be added, and the old southbound lanes would be used only by bicycle riders and pedestrians.