ENCINITAS, Calif. — Drive down South Coast Highway in Encinitas and you’ll see “30” painted in big numbers on the road, but the sign just a few yards away says speed limit 35. So what's driving the confusion in Encinitas? It's a move to slow you down.
Jill Bankston, Encinitas' Director of Engineering, says it's not a trick to hand out speeding tickets.
“We haven't asked for increased enforcement in those areas yet,” she said.
Instead, it's the middle of a process to lower speed limits on dozens of roads in the city by 5 miles an hour.
“We're trying to be responsible so we're moving signs from one place to another place instead of ordering all new signs. So it's going to take a little bit of time to get all the right signs in the right places.”
And it's not just happening on main roads like Encinitas Boulevard, Coast Highway, and Leucadia Boulevard, it's also happening on smaller side streets that are within a quarter mile of a school. Those limits will drop from 25 to 20.
“That is slow,” Bankston said, “but we want to make sure that we're safe for out vulnerable citizens - our cyclists, our pedestrians, our school kids, our seniors.”
The City says it will cost around $120,000 to complete the project, but if it saves one life, residents say its money well spent.
“I applaud the city council for wanting to lower the speed limits even though the 18 year old me would be a little aggravated about that,” said longtime Encinitas resident Scott Chatfield.
He says the area is definitely changing with more and more people riding bikes. Also weighing heavily on the community is the horrific fatality of 15-year-old Brodee Champlain-Kingman. He was hit and killed while riding his e-bike on El Camino Real.
“I think we're in the midst of a traffic reassessment when it comes to bikes and pedestrians and things like that and I think the intentions are so good because we are turning into more of a pedestrian, bike culture as opposed to car, car, car,” Scott said.
As for increased enforcement, that is coming, but won’t start until the correct signage has been up for at least 30 days.
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