San Diego City Council District 1 representative Sherri Lightner held a community forum June 17 to update La Jollans on proposed changes for Torrey Pines Road. Beginning in September 2005, La Jolla Town Council unanimously supported La Jollan Robert Thiele’s Torrey Pines Corridor Study. Area groups formed the Torrey Pines Road Committee (TPRC) in an effort to study Torrey Pines Road and La Jolla’s congested “throat” intersection, improving aspects of the corridor such as slowing traffic, increasing safety and improving walkability. Despite ongoing controversy regarding a traffic signal at Princess Street and Torrey Pines Road, the TPRC recommended installation of the signal, according to the group’s website. But during the June 17 community forum, Lightner said most La Jolla community groups denied plans to install a Princess Street traffic light. “La Jolla Shores Association, Promote La Jolla and La Jolla Town Council did not support a light at Princess Street,” Lightner said. “I don’t want to spend a lot of time on the Princess Street light.” Thiele presented an updated version of the Torrey Pines project. “In 2004 we first identified the problems,” Thiele said, regarding former San Diego City Council President Scott Peters’ 2004 Torrey Pines Road study that focused on several issues. “[They were] traffic speed, narrow sidewalks, incomplete bike lanes and guard rails.” TPRC presented solutions, including installing upgrades such as crosswalks at Torrey Pines Road; a 420-foot guard rail and pedestrian-protecting barriers from Coast Walk to Prospect Place, in an effort to stop out-of-control cars from running into homes; a 5-foot sidewalk on the north side of Torrey Pines Road; and bike lanes. Committee members also recommended installing new landscaping and bluff stabilization and establishing a maintenance assessment district that would pay for ongoing landscaping. City officials and group members said workers will install calming measures such as “transverse striping” and “V Calm” electronic signs — which flash speeds at motorists — along the street. “We’ll see transverse striping within six to eight weeks,” said Julio Fuentes, senior traffic engineer with the City of San Diego. “At Amalfi Street we want to install the V calming.” For more information, visit www.torreypinesroad.com.