ENCINITAS — Nikolas Capetanakis, a local obstetrician-gynecologist, has lived at the top of Santa Fe Drive for over 12 years, making thousands of commutes down to Encinitas Scripps Memorial Hospital to deliver babies and tend to patients.
“It was once a five minute drive, now it could be 20 minutes or more just to go the mile I need to go,” Capetanakis told the Coast News. “And that’s kind of the big frustration as far as what’s going on right now.”
Capetanakis, who has delivered over 4,000 babies at Scripps Encinitas, recently sparked online attention after a local Instagram account shared his comments voicing frustration and safety concerns about the Santa Fe Drive Corridor Improvements project during an Oct. 23 Encinitas City Council meeting.
“I have driven Santa Fe Drive over 10,000 times to get to that hospital,” Capetanakis said at the meeting. “And today, I almost missed a medical emergency because of what you’ve done to that street.”
The corridor — located east of Interstate 5 and west of Windsor/Bonita Drive — boasts a high volume of traffic, with both vehicle and pedestrian circulation occurring multiple times a day due to the presence of several churches, residential homes and San Dieguito Academy High School.
City officials tasked with approving and overseeing this project have cited traffic and safety concerns as the primary reasons for the corridor changes.
However, due to ongoing construction, Capetanakis told The Coast News on Wednesday that he purchased a moped to help cope with the spike in traffic volumes created by the project.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me,” Capetanakis said, climbing off his moped amid the hundreds of orange cones and safety fencing in front of the Bobby Riggs Racket and Paddle Club. “They’re narrowing lanes, putting in this reverse parking, it’s just making everything a lot more congested.”
On top of traffic disruptions, project manager and engineer Bader Suleiman told The Coast News that the $4.1 million project — meant to slow the flow of traffic and create a safer corridor for alternative modes of transportation — was originally supposed to wrap up in August.
“These delays are very typical of projects like this,” Suleiman said, adding utility conflicts and supply chain issues hindered progress. “We’re working with the contractor to get this built as quickly as possible … making sure how they’re going about the construction is safe for the public and ultimately delivers a good product at the end.”
Suleiman said the city has now entered a “liquidated damages” phase, imposing daily fees on the contractor, Tri Group Construction, for the delays. He said about $2.5 million has been spent thus far, and it is nearing completion. Most work is anticipated to be finished by the end of fall or potentially the beginning of December.
Mayor Tony Kranz said it’s too early to determine fault, as the focus remains on completing the project.
“Ultimately, it’s going to be something that will likely end up needing to be hammered out between the designer and the contractor to figure out who’s responsible for the delays,” Kranz said. “All our focus is on getting the project finished, and we’ll assess blame after we’re done with the project.”
For residents and commuters like Capetanakis, the delays and disruptions in normal traffic flow amount to more than a simple annoyance. He said the more time it takes him to get to a delivery, the more the safety of mothers and families is jeopardized.
“I’ve already delivered two babies today,” Capetanakis said. “One at 3 a.m. and one at 10 a.m.”
Although it doesn’t happen every day, he said the thought that a delay could trigger an emergency weighs heavily on his mind.
“It’s more stressful than anything,” Capetanakis said. “I mean, it happened again this week where they called me for a delivery, and, you know, I should have been there in six minutes, and I was there in 18 minutes.”
Santa Fe Drive Project
The Santa Fe Drive project represents the first phase of a larger corridor plan that targets the western section of the street.
In response to concerns over narrowed lanes and the removal of the center median, Suleiman clarified that the center lane would indeed be reestablished post-construction. He said the current removal is temporary and allows construction equipment access, adding the lane adjustments align with countywide studies indicating that 10-foot lanes enhance safety and reduce accidents.
An integral part of the project involves narrower lanes and adding new bike lanes, which Suleiman said are critical to slowing traffic near the school. He added that “traffic calming” measures have been a priority in designing this project, especially given the city’s push for greater pedestrian and cyclist safety.
“Designing narrow lanes may feel like a tight fit, but studies have shown this reduces accidents and enhances safety,” Suleiman said.
During a September 2022 council meeting where the project was approved, then-Mayor Catherine Blakespear said protected bike lanes are a necessary safety measure, especially for the high volume of students biking to and from San Dieguito Academy.
Blakespear said that while protected bike lanes are more expensive, they create a safer environment and align with the city’s goals of reducing traffic through mode shifts.
“It’s definitely a little bit more expensive to do protected bike lanes, but there’s just no question that it’s safer,” Blakespear said during the meeting. “So having a physical barrier protection between a car and a bicycle rider really needs to happen, especially if we want to be serious about reducing traffic congestion by mode shifting out of driving and into bicycle riding.”
The project was approved unanimously after it was briefly taken off the consent calendar to accommodate a public comment from one resident who expressed concerns about the project’s design, arguing that costly protected bike lanes could trap cyclists near driveways in the high-density, high-traffic area.
Kranz said the Santa Fe Drive project aligns with the principles of “Complete Streets,” a planning approach that accommodates all modes of travel — such as pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit riders — without significantly reducing car lanes.
“I don’t think it’s moving away from a vehicle-minded community because we’re going to be one of those, for sure,” he said. “You have to take into consideration all modes of travel, which includes people who walk and people who bike.”
Kranz acknowledged that dealing with the construction can be challenging and asked residents to withhold judgment until the project is complete. He said adjustments would be made if issues arise after completion, expressing confidence in the engineers and designers behind the project.
“If things aren’t working when it’s finished, we’re going to definitely find a way to make it work,” Kranz said. “And if that means changing things after the project is completed, you know, we’ll take that as a lesson learned and not make the same mistake again.”
2 comments
I support narrowed travel lanes, reverse-angle parking, and traffic calming. I oppose so-called “protected” bike lanes, which greatly exacerbate right hook, left cross, and side entry collision dangers at every driveway and street intersection. The combination of posts and curblets between them has already caused at least 33 cyclist crashes on Hwy 101 through Cardiff, which used to be a safe and pleasant place to ride.
Another instance of not only wasting money but incompetence from Kranz.
If Blakespear and Kranz had done absolutely nothing the entire time they were in Office would Encinitas be better off? It sure would be.
They have decimated this City.
Time to get rid of Kranz and his hand picked puppet Blackwell.
Bruce Ehlers for Mayor, Luke Shaffer for D1, Jim O’Hara for D2.
Enough is enough.