SAN DIEGO — Residents in Serra Mesa say the city is pushing forward with plans to reduce traffic lanes along portions of Mission Village Drive, one of the main arteries into the community, in order to make room for protected bike lanes.
The proposed Mission Village Drive revamp will cost the city nearly $1.4 million. According to the website, the improvements include new sidewalks, retaining walls, protective railings, new crosswalks, as well as a protected bike lane along portions of Mission Village Drive. Work is set to begin in October.
The improvements will come as residents begin to see more traffic from Snapdragon Stadium and years before the stadium site is even built out.
According to plans, the uphill stretch of Mission Village Drive from Friars Road to Ronda Avenue will remain a four-lane road with an average of 13,960 vehicle trips per day. Beginning at Ronda Avenue, the city plans to cut the number of lanes by half, to a two-lane road with a separate bike lane and a parking lane next to it.
Residents say the proposal is misguided. The steep uphill climb steers many cyclists away from Mission Village Drive. And reducing lanes from a four-lane street down to two lanes will only cause congestion and make it more difficult for neighbors to come and go from their homes.
Dennis Yard has lived in Serra Mesa for 36 years. Yard understands the need to address climate change but he says few cyclists use Mission Village Drive because of how steep it is. It's the morning and evening commute that will get worse when the bike lanes go in.
"In the morning and evening, this road is already clogged from people using Mission Village as a cut-through to get to Friars and the freeway. It will only get worse," said Yard.
Yard says that he and other neighbors feel their concerns that few cyclists use the road and reducing lanes will create gridlock fell on deaf ears.
"This was a change that was going to happen whether we liked it or not, as long as it was in line for them trying to fight climate change," added Yard. I'm pretty angry actually. We feel we are not being listened to by the person who was elected to be our representative."
To make matters worse, residents say event staff at Snapdragon Stadium are routing drivers up Mission Village Drive during game days, something they were told would not happen. And with the build-out of the San Diego State West far from over, other Serra Mesa residents fear what will happen to their community.
"They should have engaged with the community better, asked us what potential issues we see because we live here, we see what is happening every day," said resident Jeremy Lopez-Decot. "I wish they would have actually worked with us to see how we're going to address those issues."
Added Lopez-Decot, "The neighborhood is not afraid of a little bit of traffic every once in a while, but now we're talking about constant traffic. This is just the beginning of what is to come in this area."
At a September 8 community meeting, residents voiced their concerns to city council member Raul Campillo.
Neighbors there said they wanted more time to discuss the potential impacts with the city.
District 7 council member Raul Campillo says the changes are needed to ensure pedestrians are safe while addressing the need to get people out of cars and onto bikes and mass transit.
"Ensuring public safety for all members of the community is always my number one priority," council member Campillo told CBS 8. "I heard many complaints about excessive speed along this stretch of road from parents of children who attend schools in the neighborhood. This traffic calming measure will reduce speeding, as many residents have requested. Two traffic lanes in each direction from Rhonda Avenue to Friars Road will remain. The lanes will narrow to one lane in each direction north of Rhonda to ensure the street parking remains in place for the residents who live along that portion of Mission Village Drive.”
City spokesperson Anthony Santacroce tells CBS 8 that the city worked long and hard in hopes of protecting pedestrians in the area. Santacroce says the new lanes and reduced lanes should not take anyone by surprise.
"After extensive study and planning, and after both written and in-person outreach with Council District 7 to the Serra Mesa Planning Group and the public, upcoming City work will resurface and restripe Mission Village Drive from Ronda Avenue to Ruffin Road, providing a smoother street and safer passage for people on bikes and other mobility options through this important corridor," said Santacroce. "The final result will add buffered bikeways, closing a gap in the bicycle network, keep all street parking, and calm speeding traffic, improving safety for all road users."
As for the traffic impacts from Snapdragon Stadium, a spokesperson for San Diego State University told CBS 8 that it is encouraging fans to try and use alternate routes or use the trolley to get to and from games.
"We recognize that as part of the first game, fans over-relied on the main entrance and exit to the site, which may have contributed to a build-up of vehicles on Mission Village Drive," said the university spokesperson. "However, we have since modified operations and more directly promoted the alternative entrances and exits to reduce that issue, and the game on Saturday, September 10, saw traffic that was significantly reduced."
The spokesperson told CBS 8 that traffic will only improve as more people discover alternative modes of transportation to the new stadium and after an exit at Fenton Parkway is completed next year.
"While SDSU did not promise that Mission Village Drive would not be utilized in the same way that it has for more than 60 years, the university did indicate that alternate measures would be encouraged. Snapdragon Stadium will continue working hard to improve operations as fans reacquaint themselves with the site after nearly a three-year hiatus."
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