Support roundabouts to improve the Lomas Santa Fe corridor in Solana Beach

[karlos]

NCCC members - below is a note to a number of bike-related advocacy organizations and bike clubs around San Diego County. Letters of support from NCCC members as individuals are also welcome. We would love to see more roundabouts and not have to be bugged by stop signs anymore 
Thanks for any help here - Karl

Dear supporters of safe biking (driving and walking, too!):

The City of Solana Beach (COSB) is near the completion of Phase 2 of a concepts study for improvements to the Lomas Santa Fe (LSF) Corridor, the only east-west arterial from the eastern City boundary to the beach. I am asking for your support of roundabouts proposed as one of the key concepts for the eastern portion of LSF. The concept is a series of 4 roundabouts starting at the eastern entrance to the City. If you could find time to provide a letter of approval for this idea addressed to Solana Beach City Engineer Dan Goldberg at dgoldberg@cosb.org by Friday, July 27, that letter will be one of the exhibits that will be part of the City Staff recommendation before the City Council on Aug 22. They have received ~200 letters so far, many negative, so anything we can do to counter that is helpful.

The project and all the documentation you would need to do this on your own is at the COSB website here. Since there are only 4 more days, I know most don't have time to spend the hours (days) to sift through a study that is in its second year. So I am attaching my letter of support for you to read. It is purposefully long, written by me and my wife, but as such meant to be educational about the project.

Even if you don't want to read our 4.5 page letter, here is a very brief synopsis of the concepts on the table and why I'm asking for as many letters of support as I can get from people who are versed in roundabouts and agree they are good for all road users:

The basic idea is the 4 way-stop at Highland/LSF, east entrance to SB, is replaced by a roundabout with cool artwork, 3 roundabouts "down the hill" for traffic calming and safer entry / exit from the neighborhoods on either side of LSF. There is currently no traffic furniture at all there, so that the 40 mph limit is often 50+, both downhill and uphill. Residents for years have complained about the speeding; some think that increased traffic enforcement or electronic speed signs are all you need. Included is a Class I path from Highland all the way down to I-5 on the north side, plus nice landscaping. This takes a 50 yr old design motivated by the suburban car desires of the '70s and provides a lovely place to actually walk, visit Lomas Santa Fe Plaza businesses, and have children riding bikes and scooters back and forth to school. For serious riders, I understand that there could be resistance as some may be used to bombing that downhill although uphill is whatever folks can manage at ~4-6%. To me, the increase in overall safety for all road users is worth it to have cyclists slow from 30-40 to 15-20 and slide through the cool new roundabouts downhill. Uphill, you'll have the usual option to take the lane. Note this is only at the concept stage (Phase 2) where the City wants to have pretty well laid-out plans plus rough cost estimates for grant opportunities. All these "features" will in reality, if ever, be implemented incrementally over a period of many years (maybe 10 yrs even, given it took 3 yrs to do Stevens Ave and 5 yrs to do Hwy 101 and both of those have follow-up phases waiting to be funded). There are improvements all the way to the Beach, as mentioned in my letter and fully documented on the COSB website. Except for the roundabouts, these are being met with approval by the majority.

Realize, though, there are not even stop signs down Lomas at the 3 new proposed intermediate roundaboouts, so we do lose some free wheeling. Between roundabouts, there will be 2 lanes, merging to one for the simpler, safer single lane roundabout, another traffic calming measure as people will need to slow down, negotiate, merge. The City is hoping to post 35 mph, with 15-20 at roundabouts, for total average speed thru upper East LSF at something ~30 mph. Bike lanes will be in the roadway (think wide, green stop-dash, buffered to restrict travel lanes to 10-11', like Leucadia Blvd improvements east of I-5), becoming dashed at approaching the roundabouts. I will advocate for dashing FAR up the hill in the bike lane and a sharrow THERE as well as in the throat like Carlsbad and Jimmy Durante. Detailed design is a long way off.

Many are in favor of the fresh concept, but there is a loud crowd of naysayers who just say NO WAY at the word roundabout and are letting it be known on social media. The City and consultants have done a great job of studying traffic volume and created nice videos of traffic simulation during peak hours on multiple school days (you can find links to those in my letter). It really works with about 50% headroom. People just need to believe the science and then be convinced that it is "good for them." There will be more data at the Aug 22 council meeting as Staff and consultants are putting together an educational presentation that counters every single one of the objections they have received. Some of the opponents believe that this idea was concocted by bicyclists to turn LSF into a regional bicycling magnet and fear hordes of cyclists and money spent only on cyclists in favor of car drivers. The City of Solana Beach did not have that in mind at all. They are truly trying to slow traffic and provide the more safe lane movements in and out of the neighborhoods for the very residents who are opposing the improvements. It is nice that cyclists also receive the benefit of a safer roadway and the chance to yield instead of stop at Highland, but the real reason is a more Complete Streets update to a very old roadway design.

I do want to emphasize that this does not at all address the signalized intersections on either side of I-5, which all of us find unpleasant, especially congestion during peak times and school dropoff/pickup intervals. That is for another project and for another time, but some of those signals could become roundabouts if the proposed concepts work nicely for everyone on upper east LSF; we don't do roundabouts at interchanges in the USA, so that will never happen and some signals will always be there; hail autonomous vehicles networked to smart traffic lights whenever that comes

So any kind of letter of support, short or long, with or without reference to my letter, will help push the concept forward. Feel free to email me with any questions or call me at 858-481-7910. Our BikeWalkSolana group has been advising COSB on this project for about 2 years and we are passionate that the time and resources spent to date on a serious study, backed by empirical data and engineering analysis, is not flushed down the drain by poorly informed folks resistant to change.

For any clubs supporting this concept, a letter signed by the Club President and or Board members including #members in the club would also be helpful. There evidently is a bike club, Teradactyls (don't know it and google couldn't help me) of 200+ roadies who oppose the downhill roundabouts and plan to either write a letter or show up at City Council on Aug 22.

Thanks for your attention, time and help - it takes a peloton

[karlos]

I would add, especially for those who haven't yet taken the Smart Cycling class, is that the majority of cyclists riding LSF downhill westbound, enjoy coasting at 30-35 mph and they stay in the bike lane. The danger at the 3 neighborhood access points is that cyclists do not slow and continue straight in the bike lane feeling fully protected. In our class, we recommend pulling out of the bike lane, only when safe and clear from traffic to the rear, as you approach these points to make it clear you're continuing through. This creates greater motorist awareness and avoids the motorist left cross (cut left in front of you), right hook (pass and suddenly turn right in front of you), pull out (they don't see you because you're so far right and they're looking for cars primarily). These are the 3 most common causes of vehicle-bicycle collisions (never use the word "accident," please). They are of course completely eliminated by roundabouts. So, even though you may be annoyed by having to slow down and integrate with traffic, roundabouts completely eliminate the 3 most common collisions with vehicles.