San Diego

Marissa Gaucin and her husband moved into their Rancho Penasquitos dream home on New Year’s Eve and spent New Year’s Day and the following weekend settling into their tile-roofed, two-story house on quiet Donaker Street.

Then, on Monday, the Gaucins found out that their quiet residential street was a “phantom freeway” for commuters trying to avoid long waits on the community’s on-ramps to Interstate 15.

Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer and members of the City Council’s transportation and land-use committee took action Monday to slow or divert the bulk of traffic through the residential neighborhood’s northwest portion.

Council committee members voted unanimously to install temporary stop signs and post truck restrictions on the Woodcrest subdivision streets until a permanent connection is constructed between the shortcut route to the coast and a major Rancho Penasquitos traffic artery, Black Mountain Road.

Gaucin and other Woodcrest subdivision residents applauded the council committee’s decision after voicing their concerns about the safety of their children with cars racing through the neighborhood at speeds of up to 50 m.p.h.

Residents testified that their narrow residential streets had become “virtual freeways” for drivers seeking to avoid the congested on-ramps to I-15 where morning waits to enter the freeway are 25 to 45 minutes during commuting hours.