SAN DIEGO — An alleyway along Cypress Drive in San Ysidro is a popular route people take daily to get to their destination. Bikes, cars and pedestrians squeeze their way through but it raises safety concerns.
“This looks like a regular service alley but it's also people’s front yard so there’s a lot of traffic here that mixing vehicles two way direction and pedestrians," Casa Familiar Community Development Choreographer Goyo Ortiz said. It's been an issue with safety.”
Juanita Placencia tells CBS 8 in Spanish that there’s no sidewalk so she has to either walk close to the fence or in the middle of the street when there’s no cars.
Heidi Hollomon also commutes through the area and has experienced dangerous situations on her way home.
“Yeah, I've had a couple times where I've almost been hit and I have one light, a back light and then I bring an extra flash light too, just to make sure that I'm seen but they kind of speed down this alley too,” Hollomon said.
There's a plan in the works to turn the alleyway into a one-way drive from San Ysidro Boulevard to Sellsway Street to give pedestrians more room to walk by and create a safer zone for drivers.
“Like many of the projects in San Ysidro, they come from the community advocating for their spaces,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz explains that the first phase of the project will include traffic control measures and more lighting. Meanwhile, the second phase will focus on adding underground utilities.
“To exit we have to go one way direction. For us, especially for me going exiting I can go straight down. Now, if they do it one way I have to go up, go around the opposite direction,” San Ysidro Resident Gaston Soria said.
Soria explains that this project is not ideal, he is not a fan of the idea of replacing a two-way street into a one-way drive. Meanwhile, Ortiz tells CBS 8 that Casa Familiar worked with the City of San Diego to survey 100 homes and 97 of them were in favor of a one-way drive.
“It's a positive step and we have to keep working though,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz tells CBS 8 that right now, city engineers are working on the design of the project. He adds that the first phase of the project will come to life in about one to two years.
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