ENCINITAS — The Encinitas City Council has directed staff to move forward with a series of traffic-safety improvements near Park Dale Lane Elementary School ahead of an expected increase in student traffic this fall.
The school is expected to receive an influx of students when roughly half of those originally assigned to Paul Ecke Central Elementary School are temporarily relocated to Park Dale during construction.
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara said he and Councilmember Marco San Antonio were alarmed by driver behavior they observed along Village Park Way near its intersection with Park Dale Lane.
“It was shocking how quickly they just rolled through,” O’Hara said. “It was a nod and go.”
O’Hara and San Antonio initiated the discussion at the March 11 City Council meeting, requesting a safety evaluation of the intersection and surrounding area during school commute hours.
City staff returned on June 10 with a report outlining existing conditions and potential improvements. Staff found concerns, including motorists failing to fully stop at stop signs, higher vehicle speeds, limited driver awareness of pedestrians and the complexity of the multilane roadway configuration. The area also experiences heavy pedestrian activity during school arrival and dismissal times.
The council directed staff to move forward with several near-term improvements, including:
• Converting the intersection of Village Park Way and Gatepost Road to an all-way stop, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000;
• Narrowing Village Park Way travel lanes to 11 feet to encourage slower driving speeds, estimated at $20,000 to $40,000;
• Removing the northbound and southbound dedicated left-turn lanes on Village Park Way to create additional space for pedestrian improvements;
• Adding pedestrian refuge islands, estimated at $15,000 to $120,000;
• Installing school-area advance warning signs with flashing beacons during school hours, estimated at $2,000 to $3,000;
• Increasing landscaping maintenance and improving sight distances by trimming vegetation that partially obscures traffic signs, estimated at $1,000 to $2,000; and
• Installing permanent radar speed-feedback signs, estimated at $7,000 to $9,000.
Staff also recommended coordinating with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office to increase targeted traffic enforcement during school arrival and dismissal periods.
Several other options were studied but ultimately deemed infeasible. Staff ruled out curb bulb-outs because they would interfere with emergency vehicle turning movements, and the city’s Fire Department opposed the concept. Raised crosswalks, speed cushions and other vertical traffic-calming measures were also rejected because Village Park Way serves as a secondary evacuation route and receives more than 200 emergency responses annually.
“I just want to thank staff as I know it’s a lot of work as every one of these had to be vetted and worked through,” San Antonio said.
City Engineer Dan Nutter noted that while the intersection lies outside the state’s formal definition of a school zone — within 500 feet of a school campus — the city has already implemented several school-area safety measures there.
The intersection features high-visibility crosswalks and solar-powered flashing stop-sign beacons, improvements Nutter said are typically associated with school zones. The city also approved reducing the speed limit on Village Park Way from 35 mph to 30 mph earlier this year, while Park Dale Lane remains posted at 20 mph.
Staff also evaluated the possibility of installing a traffic signal at Park Dale Lane and Village Park Way. A signal warrant analysis found the intersection does not meet state requirements for a traffic signal, including thresholds for vehicle volumes, pedestrian crossings, school crossings, crash history and roadway network conditions. While pedestrian activity came closest to meeting the standards, traffic volumes were not high enough to justify a signal under California guidelines.
Though the council could still choose to install a signal in the future, staff estimated the cost at between $400,000 and $600,000.
Several parents who spoke during public comment called for additional crossing guards and increased law enforcement presence around the school. They also argued that physical roadway changes would be the most effective way to reduce dangerous driving behavior and improve safety for students walking and biking to campus.
