Plans are on track to reduce speed limits on many Encinitas roadways, ranging from major arterials, such as El Camino Real, to residential streets near schools, starting this summer.
City traffic engineer Abe Bandegan told the City Council at a meeting Wednesday, March 13, he’ll likely have a proposed ordinance ready for council approval within the next month. The signage could be up by June and enforcement could start July 1.
“Tonight, we wanted to see if the council blessed this,” he said as he displayed a rough, tentative map that showed the many streets proposed for speed limit reductions.
Council unanimously voted to give him the green light to proceed with the plans. They also suggested adding a few roads, including Eulos and Hymettus avenues where residents have mounted a campaign to have speed bumps installed.
To set roadway speed limits, cities must follow state standards, or any speed tickets they might issue would not be valid in court. One key state requirement is known as the 85th percentile rule — cities must use traffic study data and establish a road’s speed limit based on the speed that 85 out of 100 drivers are doing in good weather during daytime hours. There’s a bit of flexibility — if the average speed is found to be 47 mph, cities can round that down to 45 mph.
Encinitas can now lower its speed limits on some roads by an additional 5 mph because of changes in state law, Bandegan said. Assembly Bill 43, which ed in 2021, now allows Encinitas to lower speed limits on two types of roadways.
The first category is “safety corridor” roads — ones that have a high number of serious injuries and fatalities, based on their collision history. Cities can put up to 20 percent of their roadways into this category. That amounts to about 34 miles of roads in Encinitas, Bandegan said.
Streets in Encinitas that are now under consideration for inclusion in this category include El Camino Real, Encinitas Boulevard, Leucadia Boulevard, Manchester Avenue, Melba Road, parts of Coast Highway 101, Olivenhain Road, Piraeus Street, Rancho Santa Fe Road, Santa Fe Drive and Vulcan Avenue.
The second category where additional 5 mph-speed-limit reductions now are permitted consists of “roadways with a high concentration of bicyclists and pedestrians.”
Bandegan said he is currently recommending that the city only include roads that are within a quarter-mile of schools into this category for now, but Encinitas could expand the eligible streets later.
The proposed street list currently includes Birmingham Drive, El Camino Del Norte, Garden View Road, La Costa Avenue, Lake Drive, Lone Jack Road, Mountain Vista Drive, Quail Gardens Drive, Quail Hollow Drive, Saxony Road, Via Cantebria, Via Molena and Via Montoro.
Most of the council said March 13 they had no problem accepting the draft proposal and would like more roadways included, but Councilmember Bruce Ehlers asked to remove a few roadway segments in his district — District 4, which includes Olivenhain and part of New Encinitas.
“I did not anticipate this many roads (being included), especially cul-de-sacs,” he said, later adding, “where it’s a cul-de-sac a half-mile away (from a school), and it’s going from 25 to 20, I just can’t see the sense.”
The council ultimately agreed to have Ehlers work with Bandegan in the coming weeks to remove some roadway sections in his district.
