More than 75 segments of La Jolla streets are on track to have their speed limits reduced following the San Diego City Council Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s approval of a larger citywide plan Feb. 19.
The lower speed limits and the list of street segments where they would apply are in a long-awaited speed management plan that prioritizes safety near schools, in business districts and at intersections deemed dangerous because of their history of crashes or other risk factors.
The speed management plan must be finalized by the full City Council in a vote expected in coming weeks.
Nearly 400 of the 680 miles of San Diego streets planned for new speed limits are in school zones (within 500 feet of a campus). They include 18 segments around Bird Rock Elementary School and 46 segments around Torrey Pines Elementary School.
An additional 59 miles of city streets are planned to get lower speed limits because they are in business activity districts — commercial areas where people are frequently crossing and parking.
Some of the La Jolla street segments that apply are Fay Avenue between Prospect Street and Pearl Street, Girard Avenue between Prospect and Pearl, Herschel Avenue between Prospect and Torrey Pines Road, Pearl Street between La Jolla Boulevard and Fay Avenue, La Jolla Boulevard between Pearl and Prospect streets, and Prospect between Eads Avenue and Cave Street.
Additional categories include areas of high pedestrian and bicycle activity, which in La Jolla include Calle de la Plata between Torrey Pines Road and Avenida de la Playa, Gilman Drive between Via Alicante and La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla Shores Drive between El Paseo Grande and North Torrey Pines Road, North Torrey Pines between Torrey Pines Road and Callan Road, Torrey Pines Road between Prospect Place and Pottery Canyon Driveway, Via Mallorca between Caminito Mallorca and Villa La Jolla Drive, and Villa La Jolla between Gilman Drive and La Jolla Village Drive.
State law generally has required cities to set the speed limit for a section of a street at the higher end — 85th percentile — of the speeds cars typically are driven on it.
But a 2022 state law — Assembly Bill 43 — gave cities much wider discretion to reduce speed limits if they complete a thorough analysis like San Diego’s 135-page speed management plan that is deemed to justify such a move.
The bill also gives cities the discretion to maintain the speed limit on a segment of a street even if a study determines the 85th-percentile speed is faster.
Some residents welcome the city of San Diego’s plan to lower the 35 mph speed limit on sections of La Jolla Boulevard. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
City officials said the planned lower speed limits would require $2.4 million for 3,000 new signs, 1,200 new poles and overtime wages for Transportation Department workers who will install them.
Installation is scheduled to begin with the new fiscal year in July and start with street segments near schools before moving on to other spots.
For Bird Rock resident Harry Bubbins, the inclusion of four segments of La Jolla Boulevard as places slated to have the speed limit reduced is cause for celebration. In 2022, Bubbins started a petition through the organization Respect Bird Rock calling for the speed limit to be lowered on the street from its current 35 mph.
“[City Council] District 1 has dozens of miles of roadway that are eligible for speed limit reductions, making life safer and quieter for all of us who walk, bike and drive through our communities,” Bubbins told the La Jolla Light.
“We’re particularly grateful that La Jolla Boulevard between Pacific Beach and Bird Rock was included after the support of hundreds of petition signers. … This corridor has long been a concern for residents who witness dangerous speeds daily in an area where people are constantly crossing to reach the coast.”
The segment between Loring Street in PB and Camino de la Costa in Bird Rock is planned for a 25 mph limit.
Bubbins, a La Jolla Community Planning Association trustee, called the speed management plan “a great start — safer speeds for school zones, business districts and high pedestrian and bicycle corridors, which is essentially La Jolla’s entire coastal area. These reductions, paired with improved street design, will save lives, plain and simple.”
In another area of La Jolla, however, some residents weren’t so happy. During the transportation committee meeting, several residents of Prestwick Drive in La Jolla Shores unsuccessfully lobbied for their street to be added to the list of those getting reduced speed limits.
See the full list of affected street segments at bit.ly/40lYRr0.
— San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer David Garrick contributed to this report. ♦