Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Return to pork chop island

La Mesa traffic project did nothing to slow cars, say residents

Intersection of Harbinson and Annapolis avenues
Intersection of Harbinson and Annapolis avenues

A year after the City of La Mesa installed two traffic circles, six low medians, and a "pork-chop island" on Harbinson Avenue to try to slow speeding traffic, most residents — and a small traffic study — say the efforts only put pedestrians and residents in danger while while making less street parking available.

Many of the residents say they want speed bumps. Drivers have long used Harbinson Avenue as a speedy and fun alternative to 70th Street. The avenue, about four blocks east of 70th Street, curves through a middle-class neighborhood.

Traffic studies have found that drivers rush through the otherwise quiet neighborhood at speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour, whipping around curves. The avenue has had a number of crashes — including ones in which cars have ended up on residents' lawns; that's changed little in the last year, most residents say. And the "traffic obstacles," as Jeffrey Bauer called them, force drivers to the sides of the road where they threaten the safety of pedestrians.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"As a person who walks the neighborhood, these things scare me," Bauer said. "They've taken the cars from the center of the road to the sides on a street where there are no sidewalks." Bauer said he appreciates the work city engineers have done. "They are well intentioned but they didn't work."

Others are not as kind.

"I've been wanting to complain about the street hazards installed by the City of La Mesa for some time," one resident said on condition of anonymity. "Those hazards are impediments to traffic and damaging to vehicles. I keep seeing the rubber skid marks on those hazards, demonstrating that the concept is a ridiculous failure."

Down the street, Rick Woolverton said he wants the traffic circles removed and hopes others do, too. He said there have been seven accidents since the December 2013 project — including two in which cars ended up in people's yards, damaging a hedge and a chain-link fence.

"If not for the hedge, she would have gone into the house," Woolverton said, noting that the owner has replaced the hedge with a four-foot-tall brick and cement wall. "Kids live there." The traffic circles are lower and smaller than people expected and lack adequate signage to indicate traffic flow around the circles. "They're confusing," Bauer said. "Half the cars turn left onto Annapolis [Avenue] before the circle, making things more dangerous."

But most telling is the study done with a radar gun that found the speeds in 2014 were about the same or higher than they were in 2010. Every measurement was above the 30-mph speed limit. But there are those who believe the traffic circles are working — mostly city staff.

The city's engineering reports found there were no accidents from the installation in December 2013 until August 2014, when there were four crashes on Harbinson. City engineers seemed to suggest that three of those were problems with the drivers — two were DUI and a third was driving distracted — and not with the road.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Intersection of Harbinson and Annapolis avenues
Intersection of Harbinson and Annapolis avenues

A year after the City of La Mesa installed two traffic circles, six low medians, and a "pork-chop island" on Harbinson Avenue to try to slow speeding traffic, most residents — and a small traffic study — say the efforts only put pedestrians and residents in danger while while making less street parking available.

Many of the residents say they want speed bumps. Drivers have long used Harbinson Avenue as a speedy and fun alternative to 70th Street. The avenue, about four blocks east of 70th Street, curves through a middle-class neighborhood.

Traffic studies have found that drivers rush through the otherwise quiet neighborhood at speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour, whipping around curves. The avenue has had a number of crashes — including ones in which cars have ended up on residents' lawns; that's changed little in the last year, most residents say. And the "traffic obstacles," as Jeffrey Bauer called them, force drivers to the sides of the road where they threaten the safety of pedestrians.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"As a person who walks the neighborhood, these things scare me," Bauer said. "They've taken the cars from the center of the road to the sides on a street where there are no sidewalks." Bauer said he appreciates the work city engineers have done. "They are well intentioned but they didn't work."

Others are not as kind.

"I've been wanting to complain about the street hazards installed by the City of La Mesa for some time," one resident said on condition of anonymity. "Those hazards are impediments to traffic and damaging to vehicles. I keep seeing the rubber skid marks on those hazards, demonstrating that the concept is a ridiculous failure."

Down the street, Rick Woolverton said he wants the traffic circles removed and hopes others do, too. He said there have been seven accidents since the December 2013 project — including two in which cars ended up in people's yards, damaging a hedge and a chain-link fence.

"If not for the hedge, she would have gone into the house," Woolverton said, noting that the owner has replaced the hedge with a four-foot-tall brick and cement wall. "Kids live there." The traffic circles are lower and smaller than people expected and lack adequate signage to indicate traffic flow around the circles. "They're confusing," Bauer said. "Half the cars turn left onto Annapolis [Avenue] before the circle, making things more dangerous."

But most telling is the study done with a radar gun that found the speeds in 2014 were about the same or higher than they were in 2010. Every measurement was above the 30-mph speed limit. But there are those who believe the traffic circles are working — mostly city staff.

The city's engineering reports found there were no accidents from the installation in December 2013 until August 2014, when there were four crashes on Harbinson. City engineers seemed to suggest that three of those were problems with the drivers — two were DUI and a third was driving distracted — and not with the road.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

How to Get Legal Assistance When Your Car Accident Insurance Claim is Denied?

Next Article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.