Encinitas commission backs changes to roundabout signage

Encinitas is moving forward with new, standardized signage for traffic circle roundabouts, adding extra warnings for drivers and guidance for cyclists.

The city’s Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission unanimously backed the proposed changes last week, and they’ll likely go before the City Council as well, city traffic engineer Abe Bandegan told the commissioners before they voted.

Among other things, the proposal calls for installing new signs notifying drivers that they need to yield to vehicles that are already in a roundabout, Bandegan said. That sort of sign was originally required by the state when roundabouts were a fairly new idea, but isn’t mandated under state law any more, he said.

In addition to those “yield to traffic in circle” signs, the proposal would require all Encinitas roundabouts to have:

• A sign notifying drivers that a circular intersection is ahead, and that the advised speed is 15 mph;
• A pedestrian crossing warning signs at all roundabout approaches;
• A yield pavement markings and a yield line at all entry approaches;
• A directional arrows to guide traffic circulation;
• A Shared lane markings — known as “sharrows” — in situations where a bike lane terminates at a roundabout on a major roadway and cyclists will use the full vehicle lane.

“This is great. This is definitely in the right direction,” Commissioner Chris Duncan said after Bandegan introduced the proposed changes.

Commissioner Ron Medak, an avid cyclist, complemented Bandegan on the proposal to paint “sharrows” on the pavement of the roundabouts, saying, “There’s only two safe ways” for a cyclist to go through a roundabout. Either they have to get off their bikes and walk, or they ride using the full vehicle lane because riding along the edge of a vehicle lane in a roundabout isn’t safe, he said.

Roundabouts — traffic management devices that have drivers circling around a central island in a roadway, rather than coming to a full stop at an intersection — recently have been a hot topic in North County. A former Carlsbad traffic commissioner, Steve Linke, has been encouraging area city officials to reconsider their support for roundabouts, arguing that they’re unsafe.

Encinitas currently has five roundabouts — two on Leucadia Boulevard, and one each on Coast Highway 101, Quail Gardens Drive and Santa Fe Drive.

In early summer, after hearing concerns from Linke and others, the Encinitas City Council agreed to upgrade the Coast Highway 101 roundabout at El Portal, adding rumble strips at the entrance ways, protective bollards and more lighting. The El Portal roundabout, which opened in 2022, had 19 reported collisions in its first year and a half of operation, city records indicated. Many of them occurred late at night and involved drivers under the influence of alcohol.

Encinitas also agreed to install new pedestrian crossing signs late last year at the two roundabouts on Leucadia Boulevard in response to residents’ requests, a staff report produced for Monday night’s meeting states.

To view the roundabout signage report, visit: https://encinitas.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=7&event_id=5234&meta_id=191825