Coronado

The California Department of Transportation on Monday lowered the speed limit to 50 m.p.h. on the Coronado Bridge at the request of Coronado officials, who cited safety reasons.

The Coronado Police Department and the city’s Traffic Operations Committee first requested the decrease about five years ago, but Caltrans officials declined, mainly because of the difficulty California Highway Patrol officers would have in enforcing the policy on the shoulderless bridge, said Jim Larson, Caltrans public affairs officer.

However, the continuing rise in the number of vehicles using the bridge each day virtually mandated the lowered speed limit, Larson said.

Caltrans estimates that more than 50,000 vehicles use the bridge daily, contrasted with 38,000 vehicles daily in 1981 and 28,000 in 1975, Larson said. Traffic accidents on the bridge have increased from 80 in 1983 to 98 in 1986, but between those dates the accident numbers decreased. Fatal accidents have averaged one per year.

“Even though (the difference) is only five miles per hour, the Highway Patrol will be enforcing it,” Larson said. “It seems like speed is creeping up all over the town, and people need to realize that, when they are on that bridge, they need to be cautious. They are on a facility with no shoulders and hardly any median.”

The five lanes of the bridge are divided by a line of yellow cones during rush hour and by the inside lane the rest of the time.