The city of San Diego’s Engineering & Capital Projects Department is reluctant to install a “pedestrian scramble” near Muirlands Middle School in La Jolla, but several other pedestrian safety measures are being eyed for the adjacent intersection of Nautilus Street and Avenida Mirola.
A few weeks after La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board Chairman Erik Gantzel said he had requested that the city evaluate the feasibility of a scramble — a signal arrangement that allows people to cross simultaneously from all four corners of an intersection during peak hours, securing ample space for pedestrians — Stephen Celniker, a senior traffic engineer with the city, responded via email that a scramble is not effective in areas that don’t have consistently heavy pedestrian activity day and night.
Due to its proximity to Muirlands, the intersection of Nautilus and Mirola is busy during the morning and afternoon, but not as much in the evening.
Muirlands parent Shauna Wills approached the Traffic & Transportation Board on Jan. 20 with a pitch to move the school bus zone further uphill on Nautilus and the parental student drop-off and pickup area further downhill.
Wills also suggested a pedestrian scramble there, noting one at the top of Nautilus Street near All Hallows Academy, The Evans School and San Diego French-American School.
Shauna Wills (right), a Muirlands Middle School parent and chairwoman of Muirlands’ School Site Council and Site Governance Team, speaks at the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board meeting Jan. 20. (Noah Lyons)
Gantzel said Jan. 20 that he had asked the city to evaluate the feasibility of a pedestrian scramble.
Celniker’s response came Feb. 9. Email correspondence relayed to the community at T&T’s Feb. 18 meeting outlined four safety improvements city engineers have approved for Nautilus Street and Avenida Mirola:
• Increasing the time the pedestrian “walk” sign is on from seven seconds to 10
• Implementing “No right turn” signs that activate during the pedestrian walk time
• Installing yellow, more visible continental crosswalks (with bar or stripe markings) to replace fading transverse crosswalks (two parallel lines)
• Installing an audible system that alerts pedestrians that the “walk” button is activated
Increasing the walk time and installing new yellow crosswalks are expected to be completed within 90 days.
Installing “No right turn” signs and the audible pedestrian system require special orders and therefore have no time estimate.
“A timeline was provided for the recommendations that can be implemented as soon as possible,” said city spokesman Anthony Santacroce. “For the recommendations that require the purchase of equipment, an estimate wasn’t provided because there are too many unknowns in the procurement process to give an accurate timeframe.”
Wills and Gantzel expressed optimism about the city’s response.
“I appreciate the city’s focus on this and their prompt movement toward a solution they believe is the best possible solution,” Wills told the La Jolla Light. She added that she will be keeping an eye on how the project is implemented.
“I plan to follow up with the city to ensure that all the changes they have detailed in their email to us … are completed in a timely fashion,” Wills said. “I think it will be an incredible improvement on what currently exists.”
Gantzel said he is “fine with the response.”
“[The measures] make sense to me,” he said. “I would like to see a pedestrian scramble, but I can understand the city’s position that it’s only really an issue during school drop-off and pickup times.” ♦