Jake Dekema Has Ideas to Ease Traffic

Jake Dekema, who was Caltrans’ chief highway engineer for San Diego before retiring in 1980 and is considered the father of the region’s freeway system, has a somewhat unorthodox remedy for traffic troubles:

“I can clean up congestion in a hurry. Just prohibit parking on major arterials during the congested hours. You have a fleet of tow trucks to carry people’s cars away if they’re still parked there. That way, you turn two lanes of traffic into three when they’re most needed. Then, you do a better job of integrating the traffic signals so it moves smoother.”

The result, he said, is that surface streets become less crowded and short-hop freeway users instead return to inner-city routes, thereby reducing congestion on the freeway as well.

Dekema also talks of encouraging people to work at home, with computers, telecommunication equipment and other high-tech gizmos, rather than driving to the office daily. Staggered work hours also could ease morning and afternoon rush hours.

Another Dekema idea is to encourage a greater dispersement of employment centers. Unlike cities that rely heavily on transit to funnel workers into concentrated--and congested--downtown areas, San Diego planners should take advantage of our automobile society and persuade companies to scatter throughout the region.

“The automobile gives the working man a choice of where to work,” he said. “So let’s spread it out.”