Pedestrian safety measures at two Point Loma intersections making progress

Community advocacy for pedestrian safety improvements along Catalina Boulevard in Point Loma has caught the attention of the city of San Diego, but although gears are turning to make changes a reality, there is not yet a clear path forward.

Many of the roads on the peninsula predate significant suburban development, and Eric Law, chairman of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, said the older designs don’t fit contemporary needs for pedestrian safety.

“In the current layout, [the roads] were wide open until we started getting some of the neighborhoods in the 1920s, although some of the neighborhoods didn’t go in till the ’50s,” Law said. “That Chatsworth road was initially designed for wagons and horses. I think the last time it was widened was in the Henry Ford Model T era. Back then … there were open fields on either side up until the ’50s.”

Three intersections along Catalina Boulevard are of particular concern: Varona Street, Savoy Street and Chatsworth Boulevard.

The Varona intersection got a lot of attention this past summer, as it is a popular crossing spot for people attending the Point Loma Summer Concerts series at Point Loma Park, as well as for families attending youth sports events.

“Catalina is so wide up there,” Law said. “Anyone who had a Little League kid had to waddle across the street with kids in tow.”

Calls for better pedestrian infrastructure, such as a crosswalk with flashing lights, garnered attention from city officials.

“They acknowledged it was dangerous,” Law said. “The city engineers have been looking at it and they had a kind of draft plan that they told us about.”

Margaret Doyle, who runs communications for City Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell, whose District 2 includes Point Loma, said the city conducted a traffic study at Catalina Boulevard and Varona Street at the behest of the Peninsula Community Planning Board.

Initially, Doyle said, the city Transportation Department approved a marked crosswalk and pedestrian-activated flashing beacons, “but concerns were raised about installing the flashing beacons in such close proximity” to a large tree at the intersection that could impede visibility of the beacons.

Law added that traffic regulations prohibit placing the beacons beyond a certain distance from the crosswalk. Removing the tree could prove problematic because it is on property not under the city’s direct jurisdiction.

“Ultimately, [the Transportation Department] recommended a permanent radar speed feedback sign facing southbound (there’s already one facing northbound) and striping changes to reduce drivers’ speed on that stretch of road,” Doyle said.

Funding for the speed sign has not yet been secured, though Doyle said the project was included in Campbell’s  list of budget priorities for the coming fiscal year. The funding ultimately would need to come through the Transportation Department.

Anthony Santacroce, spokesman for the Transportation Department, said the Savoy Street intersection, a few hundred yards down the road from Varona Street, qualifies for a marked crosswalk and that the city typically decides the type of traffic-calming measure based on site-specific considerations rather than available funding.

Santacroce said the Chatsworth/Catalina intersection, about a quarter-mile north of Varona, already has a traffic signal and crosswalks.

Law commended the city’s response thus far.

“We’ve heard from what I would call reliable sources that say it’s in progress,” he said. “The way things normally work with the city, I would call that pretty rapid work, so I’m encouraged.”

Doyle said she had no estimate of how much the projects would cost.

In the meantime, she encouraged residents to reach out to Campbell’s office with any concerns and requests at 619-236-6622 and to use the Transportation Department’s “traffic service request” form at sandiego.gov/transportation/tools-resources/traffic-service-request.

Law said he believes none of the movement toward safety installations would have happened without advocacy.

“If no one said boo about it, it would go into the queue of things to do,” he said. “But because there’s kids involved … and community events of reasonably significant visibility like the concert series and Little League, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and this wheel is squeaky.”