To resident Linda Workman, Via Capri is beginning to look more like a long on-ramp to Interstate 5 than a residential street.
After two years of petitions, local meetings and horror stories of traffic accidents, the city has agreed to some solutions.
The announcement of plans for Via Capri was made during the July 6 meeting of the La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA).
A planted island will be installed at the intersection of Via Capri and Hidden Valley to force northbound cars to slow down. Four chokers will narrow the road along the 7700 block of Via Capri.
Two V-calm signs, which flash a driver’s speed and the speed limit, have already been installed at the top of the hill and a third one is in the works, pending funding.
Trucks and vehicles use the route to avoid traveling along congested Torrey Pines Road. Cars barrel down the steep north face of Mount Soledad in a single shot to I-5, according to Workman.
Mark Broido, president of the La Jolla Town Council Traffic and Transportation Board, has seen four roll-over accidents on Via Capri in the past four years.
The city resisted installing stop signs, which are used primarily for four-way stops and not to slow traffic.
V-calm signs cost $12,000 each to install, and the four chokers will total $150,000. The city has yet to determine the cost of the island.
In other business, the city’s water department replaced nearly four miles of cast iron water pipes with new PVC pipes throughout La Jolla and Pacific Beach. The original pipes were installed in the 1920s and the cast iron was susceptible to breaking.
Contractor El Cajon Grading and Engineering completed the project in two years at a cost of $4.9 million. The new pipeline was replaced on streets from Torrey Pines to South Pacific Beach Drive.
La Jolla Shores awaits funding for new water pipes between Avenida de la Playa and Rue de Monte Carlo.
LJCPA meets the first Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. For more information call (858) 456-7900, visit www.lajollacpa.org or e-mail [email protected].