A slate of proposed roadway changes, including “bike boxes” to improve cyclists’ safety when making left turns, will go before the Encinitas City Council Wednesday.
If the council decides to pursue all the cyclist- and pedestrian-related projects, plus an “optional” add-on of a fresh slurry seal coating for the roadways, the total cost would be $1.1 million, according to a city staff report. Eliminating the roadway re-coating option cuts the total cost to $621,500.
Encinitas embarked on a stepped-up campaign to improve bike and e-bike safety in late June after a 15-year-old e-bike rider was hit by a van and killed near the Santa Fe Drive and El Camino Real intersection.
The City Council approved a local state of emergency declaration that commits Encinitas to expanding its cyclist education programs, increasing enforcement of traffic regulations and exploring ways to make the roadways safer. One change that’s been immediately noticeable is that the city has installed digital signs near schools and major intersections encouraging people to drive and bike responsibly. The city also has printed 300 small caution signs that people can post on their properties.
Most of the $1.1 million that’s now proposed for bicycle and pedestrian upgrades would go for projects sought under the city’s Safe Routes to School program or projects that aim to improve pedestrian and cyclist mobility generally. But, there’s one relatively low-cost item — a proposal to try out what are known as “bike boxes” — that generated a great deal of discussion at last month’s Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission.
The traffic commissioners told the city’s traffic engineer that they liked the concept of bike boxes — wide, green-painted, pavement areas that start at one curb and go across the front of the lanes of stopped vehicles — because they would give cyclists a safe, vehicle-free place to begin their left-turns, rather than being lumped with the cars and trucks behind the traditional stop line on the pavement. But, several commissioners said, the city ought to do a pilot project first on one intersection, before reworking all the five intersections that were originally proposed for bike boxes.
And, please, don’t pick the Encinitas Boulevard and Vulcan Avenue intersection for a trial project, said Commission Chair June Honsberger. She added that she regularly walks across that intersection, has almost been hit several times, and thinks vehicles often ignore the current roadway rules there.
“I just don’t want any more fatalities (in Encinitas). I’m just really concerned,” she said.
She wasn’t the only one with concerns. Cycling and pedestrian advocate Judy Berlfein, who initially suggested the idea of bike boxes to the city, told commissioners that she thought that a pilot project was a good idea and the Vulcan Avenue intersection probably wasn’t a good choice for it.
“I love the idea of having a no-right-turn-on-red (there), but I just don’t know how the drivers are going to respond,” she said.
Places where bike boxes and other special bike crossing designs have been considered include three Encinitas Boulevard intersections — Balour Drive, South El Camino Real and Vulcan Avenue — as well as South El Camino Real’s intersection with Santa Fe Drive, and the entrance area to MiraCosta College on Manchester Avenue.
To see an example of a typical bike box design, visit the National Association of City Transportation Officials web site at: https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/intersection-treatments/bike-boxes/
Wednesday meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 505 S. Vulcan Ave., and the meeting agenda report can be viewed at: https://encinitas.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=7&event_id=3933&meta_id=161593
