Please Help Remove Useless Restrictions
November 10, 2008 by Doug Dillard
Filed under Upcoming Events
The Mira Mesa Community Planning Group will be voting on a petition to remove the “Turning Restrictions” at certain times on Black Mountain Road where it intersects with Capricorn Way and Gemini Avenue. These restrictions are ineffective in deterring traffic as vehicles still drive through these side streets.
Instead of turning left on Black Mountain Road (which is illegal under these restrictions), drivers simply go straight through the intersection and then make a quick u-turn and then turn on Black Mountain Road, which actually causes more traffic congestion.
The original reason for these restrictions was to keep commuters from cutting through Mira Mesa to get to Rancho Penasquitos and other northern communities during rush hours, but it really never worked too well, as drivers found ways around the rules.
There was talk that when the 56 opened up they were going to remove the restrictions, but that has not happened yet, so local residents took it upon themselves to do something about it and got a petition going.
Now they got enough signatures to get the Planning Group to take a look at the proposal, but they really need people there to help get these “Restrictions” removed. So please help by showing up at the next Planning Group meeting and let them know how you feel. EVERY BODY counts, so please don’t assume that there will be enough other people there that you don’t need to show up. The more people that show up, the better chance there is to get these restrictions removed.
Please “Mark Your Calendar”
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Mira Mesa Planning Group Monthly Meeting
Mira Mesa Library Meeting Room
8405 New Salem Street
San Diego, CA 92126
November 17, 2008 at 7:00 PM
Adam on Mon, 10th Nov 2008 1:21 pm
Any consent out there to also remove the no turn before 9 am at Black Mountain & Gold Coast? Or the one at Carroll Canyon and S. 15 Entrance?
These seem to also cause needless congestion & delays……
nelda spencer on Wed, 12th Nov 2008 10:07 am
thank you so much for your support of this petition to get these turning restrictions removed, thhey are indeed silly. most of the 300+ people who werre asked to sign the petition were anxious to do so. only 5 -6 refusals. now er just need some people to show up for the Planninf on November 17th so show our support in person so that the vote will pass.
thanks again Nelda Spencer
Ted Brengel on Fri, 14th Nov 2008 5:51 am
I have opposed these turn restrictions since they were placed for two very simple reasons. First, as Doug mentions, they are not effective at limiting the traffic on Capricorn Way especially in the evening where a legal u-turn allows drivers to avoid the signs. Second, and more important, is the public safety aspect of this. We have police officers in San Diego for the overall purpose of maintaining public safety. There are few activities to which a police officer might be assigned that are further removed from this noble purpose than enforcing those turn restrictions.
So, I am in favor of removing all turn restrictions in the vicinity of Capricorn Way and Black Mountain Road and restoring the traffic signal and street striping to their original states so that Capricorn Way traffic traveling in both directions can cross Black Mountain Road or turn in either direction.
I urge everyone interested in this issue to come to the monthly Planning Group meeting on Monday night at 7:00 PM at the Mira Mesa Library where we will also discuss the direct access ramp to the managed lanes being constructed on I-15.
Ted Brengel on Sat, 29th Nov 2008 4:51 am
Well, there you have it. We had our meeting and all of a suden a number of people showed up supporting the signs. Now, no one has taken anything like an actual vote, but the signatures that Nelda Spencer gathered cannot be ignored despite the apparent volume of those who want to keep the signs. We have 300 signatures in hand supporting removal of the signs and none in support of keeping them. All we have in that regard is a few people, some rude and boisterous trying to overpower a peaceful meeting, who insist that because they opted to buy a house on Capricorn Way, the rest of us should somehow feel sorry for them.
I can assure you that no matter what these people say, the value of their homes, and most likely the price that they paid reflects the fact that they live on a street that has always been classified as a connector. They freely chose to live on Capricorn Way.
In addition, when this issue was debated in previous years everyone on the Planning Group Executive Committee in favor of the signs agreed that once the SR-56 bridge over I-15 was fully operational, the signs should come down because the traffic engineers told us that the lack of that bridge would cause additional traffic on Capricorn without the signs. The bridge is now in service.
So, at out January meeting we are going to see if the City Traffic Engineering Department will once again weigh in with some data and perhaps some ideas to provide some relief on Capricorn Way. I eagerly await anything constructive from the City or from those who would have all the rest of us support their decision to buy a home on Capricorn Way.
That said I think it is now time for the rest of us. I think that we should get a traffic count from the Traffic Engineering Department for both the morning and evening commute, cover all the turn restriction signs for six months, and then at the end of that period once again get a traffic count morning and evening. Then we will have actual data rather than merely conjecture to fuel our deliberations.
With both traffic counts in hand we can then discuss intelligently the next step. And maybe we will all agree that things are so bad that we need some or all of the turn restrictions back, I suspect, however that there are other means that might be less disruptive to local residents while having an effect similar to the turn restrictions on through traffic.
So let’s deal with facts. The only way to get those is to eliminate the turn restrictions for at least six months. Without actual numbers we cannot intelligently decide what should really be done and then there is no way to determine the effectiveness of any measure we adopt to limit traffic flow.