Residents: Corridor improvements, not traffic circle

City traffic engineer Mike Arnold told the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board at its Sept. 24 meeting that $500,000 is earmarked for construction of a traffic circle proposed at Silverado and Prospect streets and Draper Avenue near the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, but residents said they’d rather see the money diverted elsewhere.

“I do not understand how nearly $1 million of taxpayers’ money may go to a cosmetic project that has not received community input or approval,” said community activist Sherri Nooravi. “The community groups have worked on the Torrey Pines Road Project since 2004 and it is clear that the community supports pedestrian and bicyclist safety and clean up of this area. The funds from the Silverado Roundabout project should be redirected, if not to TPR, to another safety-related project which would benefit our citizens.”

Arnold said he was uncertain whether the money for the Silverado traffic circle could be diverted to another project at this point, saying if the money were not spent on this project, it might have to be put back into the city’s general fund.