Decision to take part of La Jolla traffic signal funds to help pay for one in D.M. Heights raises eyebrows

After the city of San Diego reached a controversial decision to proceed with the installation of a crosswalk and traffic signal in Del Mar Heights, it made another controversial decision: to take money from a planned project in La Jolla to help pay for it.

The Del Mar Heights project is at Del Mar Heights Road and Mercado Drive. To pay for the design phase, a portion of the funds dedicated to upgrading the midblock crossing on Torrey Pines Road near Ardath Lane in La Jolla was transferred to it.

“There are a number of residents that are against the installation” in Del Mar Heights, said resident Greg Jabin. “It’s a divisive issue — half are in favor and others are against for a myriad of reasons.

“Why would the city not only proceed with a project that not everyone wants but take funds from a project that is needed?”

The La Jolla project the money came from is known as the Torrey Pines Road pedestrian hybrid beacon. It is intended to improve visibility at the midblock crossing often used by people going to and from the La Jolla Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and surrounding residential buildings by installing a new signal and pedestrian curb ramps, reconfiguring the sidewalk and adding retaining walls and new signs. It is expected to cost about $1.65 million, according to the city.

It was in that crosswalk that 70-year-old Howard Wilson was struck and fatally injured by a car in February 2022.

“We are going to take what you see now and make it more sophisticated,” said City Councilman Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla and Del Mar Heights. “Rather than the flashing [crosswalk] lights that are not always visible on the four-lane road, especially with the speeds that some cars are going, we are looking at taller, more visible lighting.”

But in February 2021, LaCava’s office requested that a portion of the money that had been designated in the La Jolla project fund be transferred to help pay for the design phase of the traffic signal at Del Mar Heights Road and Mercado Drive. The amount was not given.

As far back as 2004, the idea of a signal at the Del Mar Heights location caused debate. According to the Del Mar Times, the Torrey Pines Community Planning Board voted against a proposed light there in 2004 and again in 2007.

In 2016, Biljana Dekic, an associate traffic engineer with the city of San Diego, said a traffic study had been conducted and the light passed the minimum threshold for installation.

The Community Planning Board voted to support the project in November 2019.

The proposed signal would include a protected left turn and the light would be green most of the time if there were no vehicles on Mercado, Dekic said. The intersection would have crosswalks at all four legs with a push-button system. Many residents pointed to a visibility issue with glare from the sun on the hill leading to the intersection. Some worried that the light would divert traffic onto neighborhood streets, and others questioned the necessity of the project when only about a quarter-mile separates the stoplight at Mango Drive and the proposed Mercado light.

Supporters of the signal said the current configuration is dangerous.

Among those opposed is Jabin, who argues the signal doesn’t make sense at that location and questions what he considers to be an exorbitant cost.

“Three years ago, the price was estimated at $350,000 and we thought that was expensive,” he said. “When they got funding last year, the price rose to $450,000. Two months ago, it was over a million dollars. As a taxpayer, that feels like a waste of money. And now money is being taken away from [Torrey Pines Road] for this.”

LaCava said the transfer of cash between projects “happens all the time.” He stood by the decision to proceed with the Del Mar Heights signal, saying “it’s a good use of money.”

He said the decision to move money around is internal, depending on the council member or city department. A midyear budget monitoring report outlines the process for moving funds.

“It is a little shocking, but it gets done,” LaCava said.

Both projects are considered “funded and on schedule,” and additional needed money will come from other city sources, he said.

The Del Mar Heights project is expected to start at the end of this year or early next year. Installation of the Torrey Pines Road beacon is expected to begin next year.

LaCava said the transfer of funds “does nothing to the timeline [for construction] and does not change the priority” of the Torrey Pines Road beacon.

Since the existing crosswalk was installed in 2018, its efficacy has been called into question. At the time, some argued that the lights don’t stay on long enough for a person to cross safely (a midblock median with another activation button was installed since) and that the speed at which most drivers take that street from La Jolla Village Drive, coupled with the curve in the road, shortens the distance at which the crosswalk is visible.

Nearby residents asked that the crosswalk be converted to a new pedestrian hybrid signal called a high-intensity activated crosswalk beacon, or HAWK, similar to that on Torrey Pines Road between Amalfi and Princess streets. That crosswalk has overhead traffic signals that remain dark, allowing traffic to flow uninterrupted, until a pedestrian indicates a desire to cross, at which time the lights progressively instruct traffic to stop.

In June 2020, the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board voted to support a HAWK beacon for the area, with then-T&T Chairman Dave Abrams citing complaints about a lack of safety. ◆