Carlsbad cuts plan for Barrio from five traffic circles to one, saving $4M grant

Carlsbad’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the five traffic circles proposed for the downtown Barrio to just one at the intersection of Harding Street and Pine Avenue.

Five traffic circles would be too many too soon, council members said. They agreed instead to install the one along with stop signs, speed cushions and improved crosswalks to temper the neighborhood’s problems with speeders.

“The one traffic circle at Harding and Pine allows us to have a beautiful entryway with a beautiful piece of artwork right there,” said Councilmember Kevin Shin.

Originally, eight intersections were proposed for traffic circles in the city’s Village and Barrio master plan, which recommended them as a way to slow speeding vehicles and make pedestrians and bicycle riders more safe.

After further studies and community meetings, city planners found three intersections to be inappropriate and dropped them from the plan. The City Council approved a design with five traffic circles in 2020.

Then last month, when the construction contract was scheduled to be awarded, the council stepped back. It halted approval of the contract to take another look at the project because of neighborhood concerns about the feasibility of the circles, especially for drivers unfamiliar with them, and worries that street parking would be lost to the project.

City officials said in June that the city would lose a $4 million federal grant if it chose not to install the five traffic circles. However, staffers said Tuesday they have worked with Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration so that the city will not lose the money if it keeps one traffic circle in the plan.

The original grant was for $5 million with $1 million of that for improved street lighting and the rest for traffic circles, said Tom Frank, transportation director and city engineer. By negotiating with the state, the city was able to adjust the allocation to $2.5 million each for traffic circles and for lighting. The grant money for lighting was never in jeopardy.

Also, originally the $4 million was only to cover the five proposed traffic circles. Frank said earlier that the city would lose the entire amount if the project were delayed to redesign it for fewer circles or none.

However, through the negotiations the city was able to secure up to $2.5 million for just one traffic circle, Frank said Tuesday. The city still could lose some of that money if construction of the circle and its related improvements costs less than $2.5 million. The city must pay about 11% of the costs in matching funds for the project.

Staffers also found ways to alleviate the concerns about lost parking spaces. Frank said that with the one traffic circle the city can actually add about seven spaces by converting parallel parking to diagonal parking on wider streets and removing some unnecessary red curbs nearby in the Barrio.

“The amount of parking that could be lost to traffic circles seems to be kind of a moving target,” said Councilmember Melanie Burkholder, whose council district includes the Barrio.

She originally opposed any new traffic circles, but she said Tuesday she would support the plan because of the parking spaces being added.

The art element to be placed at the center of the traffic circle is yet to be designed and approved, but a sculpture has been suggested. The intersection is at the corner of the Pine Avenue Senior Center, the Carlsbad Community church, and a block from the Harding Community Center.

A conceptual plan and high-level cost estimate for construction, including the utilities affected, will be presented to the City Council in November.