Poway

Poway residents faced their first day without a major route southeast to Interstate 15 Monday with less than the expected traffic jam on Poway Road, City Manager Jim Bowersox reported.

Morning and evening commuter traffic that normally would have used Pomerado Road to reach the freeway was forced, instead, to use congested Poway Road on Monday because the city of San Diego has closed Pomerado north of Scripps Ranch for an indefinite period. The city says the road must be brought up to city standards before it can be opened to through traffic from Poway and Ramona.

The San Diego City Council went a step further last week by ordering the road to remain closed until an alternate east-west route is constructed and opened to handle expected high traffic loads from the 2,500-acre South Poway Industrial Park now being built along the Pomerado Road corridor. The road project could take several years.

Bowersox said he received a few informal growls from Poway drivers about the traffic on Poway Road Monday, “but nothing of an emergency nature.”