In December, the City of Carlsbad will be working on several traffic-safety projects around Carlsbad, some long-planned and some new, but all designed to change the “character” of our roadways and balance the needs of everyone who uses the road, whether they walk, bike or drive.

• In 2015, the City Council approved an updated General Plan, which is a set of policies about how land will be used throughout the city, including roadways.
• In keeping with new state laws and changing community priorities, the new General Plan prioritizes “complete streets,” which are streets that balance the needs of all users, rather than the previous approach that was focused mostly on cars.
• Changing the width of lanes, adding more space to sidewalks, and putting buffers between car traffic and those who are walking and biking all influence how people use our roads.
• These physical changes are described by transportation engineers as changing the character of a road because they have a psychological effect: cars slow down, drivers get cues to be more alert, and walkers and bikers feel more comfortable.

Starting the week of Dec. 5, here are some of the projects getting underway:

South Carlsbad Boulevard

• Restriping the southbound lanes from Manzano Drive to Island Way to make one lane for cars, a wider buffered bike lane and a road shoulder that can be used by walkers. Currently there are two lanes for cars, a narrow bike lane and no room for walkers.*
• Green paint will be added to bike lanes at five intersections
  • Lanikai Lane
  • Breakwater Road
  • Poinsettia Lane
  • Ponto Road
  • Avenida Encinas

* This project is being done as part of our ongoing street resurfacing program. Whenever a street needs a new surface, we stripe the new surface to comply with our new standards. We are still working on a larger effort to study moving the southbound lanes of traffic to the east to protect against sea level rise. The next step for that project is for City Council to review potential designs in early 2023.

Jefferson Street

• Jefferson Street from Las Flores Drive to the I-5 overpass will be restriped to add a new northbound bike lane (street parking on the east side of the road will be removed)
• The southbound bike lane will be extended to the I-5 overpass

Kelly Elementary School neighborhood

We’ve been working with residents who live around Kelly Elementary School and parents of students at the school to develop options for redesigning parts of Kelly, Park and Hillside drives.

• The project will slow traffic around the school and make more room for bicyclists and walkers.
• City staff will present options to the Traffic & Mobility Commission on Monday, Dec. 5.
• You can see the designs and provide input to the commission either in person or via email. Meeting details will be available by Friday, Dec. 2.

Tamarack Avenue

• Also at Monday’s Traffic & Mobility Commission meeting, staff will present a proposed short-term solution to reduce speeding on Tamarack Avenue between Skyline and Adams.
• We held a community meeting in October to get input on the designs from neighbors and made an online survey available to anyone who regularly travels on this stretch of Tamarack.
• Staff made minor modifications to the plan based on this feedback and will now present it to the commission for input.
• You can see what is proposed and provide input on this project too.