Unsnarling Coast Highway Traffic : Big Money Needed to Combat Hodgepodge, Report Says

North County’s coastal highway corridor is resurging as a commercial, residential and tourist center and needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in public improvements to avoid being strangled by its own success, a six-month citizens’ study has concluded.

The study focused on traffic and parking on the coastal highway, which was the main route connecting San Diego and Los Angeles until Interstate 5 was built. The study also looked at problems in other parts of four beach communities west of I-5 between Del Mar and Carlsbad.

Prepared by a 13-member committee of businessmen and area residents, the report concluded that a hodgepodge of design styles and the lack of adequate road maintenance and trash pickup have combined to create “an overall image of decadence” along the corridor.

The report suggested that the county spend about $300,000 on more-detailed studies and solutions to the area’s traffic, parking and drainage woes, and recommended that $2 million in federal funds be used to build a center to consolidate transit services.

The report’s 25 recommendations were to be considered Wednesday by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. But because supervisors said they wanted more time to review the study, the discussion was postponed until Dec. 18.

County staff members have suggested that 17 of the committee’s recommendations be adopted and that five others be accepted with some changes.

Three recommendations, that the county place utilities underground along a stretch of the corridor, that a beach access at D Street in Encinitas be abandoned, and that stringent new parking requirements for businesses be relaxed, were rejected by the county staff.

Among the other proposals:

- Implement a two-hour parking limit in all commercial zones.

- Finance a parking study to evaluate the area’s needs and recommend financing for new parking lots or structures.

- Design a one-way street system west of the highway.

- Install a traffic signal at Manchester Avenue and I-5 in Cardiff.

- Conduct a $30,000 streetside landscaping and building-facade study along the entire corridor.

The committee also recommended that the county establish a regular program of trash pickup and weed removal along the highway, but the county staff rejected that idea and suggested instead that residents and businesses along the highway be assessed fees to pay for the services.

A recommendation that drainage be improved on Vulcan Avenue in Encinitas and Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach was modified by the staff, which suggested that the streets’ problems be evaluated this year and improved next year if necessary.

The county staff also disagreed with the committee’s recommendation to paint crosswalks at all controlled intersections on the highway because of evidence that crosswalks create a false sense of security for pedestrians.

The committee, which met 22 times over six months, concluded that most of the area’s problems are the result of road and drainage systems designed and built in the first part of the century.

“Many of the area roads are not designed to handle the number of trips generated by the residents alone,” the report said. “Tourist traffic severely compounds the problem.”

Parking shortages in the area were blamed on the lack of adequate beach parking--a factor that forced beachgoers to park on nearby residential and commercial streets.