Traffic Increase Cited : Battle to Control Road Divides Rural Residents

For years, Artesian Road has been little more than a graded, dirt right of way that undulates through rolling, North County farmland between Rancho Santa Fe and Rancho Bernardo.

The flow of traffic along Artesian Road rarely exceeded 15 or 20 vehicles a day, say area residents, who chose this soothing, rural environment as a calming antidote to life in the bustling city.

Now, the quiet of Artesian Road is being shattered by motorists seeking their own solution to a sticky North County traffic problem that in the process threatens to set off a kind of traffic range war. In one instance at least, the anger of locals against the increasing traffic could lead to the electronic gating of Artesian Road, making it accessible only to residents.

The larger cause of the Artesian Road problem lies in the midriff of North County, where there are no major east-west connectors between coast-hugging Interstate 5 and inland Interstate 15. San Diego’s Miramar Road is the closest throughway in the south. Residents of Rancho Bernardo who work in Del Mar, for example, must drive north to Escondido, take Via Rancho Parkway to Del Dios Highway, then drive back down through Rancho Santa Fe and on to Del Mar.

‘Relatively High’

County traffic engineer Larry Burt said the traffic along Del Dios Highway near Rancho Santa Fe races by at 1,350 cars an hour at the afternoon rush hour, which Burt called “relatively high” for a two-lane road.

Other county officials say there is little hope for new roads in the near future.

“The county isn’t in a position to build new roads” in that particular area, said Kathy Lehtola, who oversees special assessment districts for the county. While several county roads have been planned for the area for years, they must wait until the surrounding area is built up by developers, who will pay for the new roads, Lehtola said. And that will be years away.

Meanwhile, the increased traffic has riled residents of Artesian Road and set landowners at odds, as some are threatening to impose gates and guards to stem the flow of zooming cars and trucks.

“We’ve had livestock and animals killed out here,” said gate proponent Michael Flynn, a chiropractor who owns a 20-acre horse farm. “I’ve built out here purposefully to avoid living in excess traffic.”

Flynn said that daily traffic volumes have increased. He has personally counted along Artesian on three different days, and found an average of more than 200 cars a day. According to Flynn, some of the motorists are workers from Rancho Bernardo on their way to work on coastal building projects.

Privately Owned

His solution and that of some nearby Rancho Santa Fe residents is to employ two large, electronically controlled gates. The gates would be placed on either side of a parcel of privately owned land used by the commuters between the end of Artesian Road and the beginning of Zumaque Street in Rancho Santa Fe.

“We have participation from other residents and have money allocated to do it,” Flynn said.

Because it is private land, the owners are free to put up the gates and make other improvements, which Flynn said would cost more than $100,000.

But there is local opposition to the gate plan. Other residents along Artesian Road, who don’t own the part of the road that would be gated off, say they are unable to pay about $5,000 each for the large, iron gates. But they fear that, if they don’t participate in the project, they will be barred from using the road that some have driven over for years.

Some of them also dispute Flynn’s traffic figures.

“I’d say it’s more like 15 cars a day,” said John Lindsay, who manages a plant nursery. Lindsay said that traffic volume was up, and reaches a peak during the racing season at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, but never gets close to Flynn’s 200 a day figure.

Foster Parent, who owns a nursery along Artesian Road, said: “I’m not going to contribute one flat dime for it.”

Smashed Gate

Parent, who doesn’t own property along any of the section to be gated, gained his legal right to the private road through the courts several years ago.

“I didn’t get that easement opened up so that it could be cut off,” Parent said. “I got the easement so people can have ingress and egress. If it’s less than that, I’ll probably say hook up the dump (truck) and tractor again” to knock the gate down. In the past, when Rancho Santa Fe residents have gated the road near the foot of Zumaque, Parent has battered it down when they blocked his customers’ access.

Parent’s chief worry, however, centers on the health of his family, including grandchildren, who live at the nursery and could be bitten by rattlesnakes or dogs--and the gates would bar an ambulance.

Other residents also voiced similar concerns.

Jim Harrison, an Artesian Road property owner for 15 years, said: “If I hurt my hand, I’m not going to wait on an ambulance.”

But Flynn said the proposed gate system would allow ambulances and sheriff’s deputies ready access.

Harrison also disputed Flynn’s high traffic count, saying that only on the weekends is there any significant volume of cars.

“It’s not the little guys like myself who want the gates,” Harrison said. “It’s the large property owners.”