Our Readers Write: Roadwork traffic, Coast Walk widening

Roadwork is being mismanaged

On April 5 around 11:15 a.m., I drove to La Jolla via Route 52, and traffic was stopped at the west end of the Interstate 5 overpass.

From that point, it took me 50 minutes to get to the intersection of Torrey Pines Road and Prospect Place.

Just before Prospect the right lane was blocked off, and that was the location of the bottleneck. But no work was being done there. I drove one more block to see what was causing the problem. The right lane was blocked off in that block, too, and the edge of the lane had been worked on.

At the far end of the block was a paving vehicle of some sort. A worker was sitting in the vehicle, but no work was being done.

Construction managers need to realize the extreme problems caused by blocking off lanes for thousands of people coming into La Jolla and manage lane closures to minimize the problem. That might entail having a few workers adjusting lane closures as time goes by.

Work should be continuous.

Doing work like this at night should be considered. A few residents would be unhappy, but not many thousands.

If the block before Prospect had not been blocked off, the bottleneck would have been in the next block and more drivers could have turned right onto Prospect, reducing the problem.

Or a third lane could have been established.

Traffic leaving La Jolla on Torrey Pines from Prospect was unaffected. One lane of outbound Torrey Pines could have been used for inbound traffic. That would have helped a lot.

Also, if an electronic sign truck had been placed on westbound 52 warning people of the problem, drivers could have gone north or south on I-5 and avoided becoming part of the problem. A warning sign on northbound 5 would have allowed drivers to continue north on 5.

One or two police officers or construction workers directing traffic at several locations would have helped.

Situations like this are unacceptable. They waste many thousands of hours for drivers sitting in stalled traffic. It wastes gas and creates air pollution.

This can be done better.

First it must be recognized as the extreme problem it is.

Doug Burleigh

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Widening Coast Walk is a safety matter

Coast Walk is too narrow and needs a turnaround and widening, La Jolla resident Melinda Merryweather says.

(Elisabeth Frausto)

In regard to the letter on Coast Walk from April 6 (“No need to widen Coast Walk,” Our Readers Write, La Jolla Light):

I understand the need for Brenda Fake and Mike Pallamary to defend the neighbors along the Coast Walk roadway who want to use it as a private driveway, but I am dedicated to protecting our parklands view corridors and beach accesses.

In the name of safety, this started with a request approved by the community to get a turnaround on Coast Walk. This was drawn by the city [of San Diego] with the two parking spaces on the bluff as they are now, but the [California] Coastal Commission would not approve it unless the cars were moved away from the bluff to the inside “strip” of dedicated public right of way between the existing roadway and the houses to the south.

The city conducted a survey dated June 4, 2021, and it shows that the front yards of most of the homes along the street encroach into the public right of way. I have believed this for years, as did the city attorney from 1995, Hal Valderhaug, as
did [former City Councilwoman] Sherry Lightner’s administration, as does the Coastal Commission.

Then in December, the current city attorney said she did not think this was the public right of way. So we need to sort this out.

I can tell you that for years I and other locals must use the driveways of the homes to turn around, and for some reason none has driveway gates.

Melinda Merryweather

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