Encinitas finetunes its speed limit reductions (original) (raw)

More roadway segments may eventually be added to the list of Encinitas streets that recently saw their speed limits drop, but contrary to recent rumors, there are no plans to reduce speed limits below 20 mph, City Council members say.

They made their comments as they approved some minor changes to the existing list Wednesday.

“It’s so popular that (other) streets are lining up to be considered,” Councilmember Joy Lyndes joked after city Traffic Engineer Abe Bandegan said people have started asking to participate and those requests will be considered several months from now.

The City Council voted to lower speed limits for many Encinitas roadways in June, taking advantage of a new state law that allows cities to reclassify their streets and designate some as “safety corridors” and some as “local streets.” The “safety corridors” streets can have their existing speed limits reduced by 5 mph, while the “local streets” can become 20-mph zones.

The changes were authorized under Assembly Bill 43, which took effect July 1 and aims to improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists statewide.

Signs with the new lowered speed limits were posted this summer in Encinitas and sheriff’s deputies have started issuing warnings to motorists, Bandegan said.

Mayor Tony Kranz and Councilmember Allison Blackwell said that not everyone in Encinitas is happy with the new lowered speed limits. Some people have told them that they’re so low that they’re tough to comply with. Blackwell said she looked forward to revisiting the issue in six months and seeing how people felt then, while Kranz said he’s been telling people that the lowered speeds will help save lives.

However, the mayor, who is seeking re-election this year, stressed, “I would like everyone to know I don’t support going any lower than 20 mph an hour. I would like to kill that rumor.”

In order to set speed limits, cities must follow state standards, or any tickets they might issue would not be valid in court. One longstanding state requirement is known as the 85th percentile rule — cities must use traffic study data and establish a roadway’s speed limit based on the speed that 85 out of 100 drivers are doing in good weather during daytime hours. There’s a little bit of flexibly — if the average speed is found to be 47 mph, cities can round that down to 45 mph.

The new rules for “safety corridors” allow cities to drop the speed limit by an extra 5 mph, or to 40 mph for an area where the average was 47 mph in a traffic study.

With the council’s vote in June, Encinitas put many of its major roadways into the “safety corridor” category, including parts of El Camino Real, Coast Highway 101, Rancho Santa Fe Road, and Encinitas and Leucadia boulevards.

The city’s “local streets” category includes roughly 80 roadway segments, many of which are near area schools including Balour Drive and Village Park Way.

On Wednesday, the council was scheduled to tweak the ordinance that authorized the speed limit changes. The city’s traffic engineer said he was asking the council to do this to fix some minor errors and make some clarifications. Kranz asked if the council could also add a portion of Hermes Street between Jason Street and Leucadia Boulevard into the 20-mph category, noting that it was near a preschool. The council then approved this addition.

Originally Published: September 14, 2024 at 5:00 AM PST