The Ardath Road Project

by Councilman Scott Peters
November 2001

Major improvements are underway to improve traffic in La Jolla, but with progress comes pain. La Jollans need to know what is in store as major road and infrastructure work begins on Ardath Road this fall and winter.

The intersection of Ardath Road, La Jolla Shores and Torrey Pines, commonly referred to as the "throat," is the second busiest intersection in the City of San Diego, with over 75,000 trips per day on average. Each of us has spent far too much of our lives waiting for the throat to clear. We've been late getting where we're going, and sometimes we don't bother to go at all. During a special event, a water main break or a Friday night in the summer, the situation is just hopeless. The traffic jams have done no favors for La Jolla businesses and are a huge drain on our quality of life as La Jolla residents.

In 1997, Mayor Golding appointed a Parking and Transportation Task Force for La Jolla, a collaboration of residents and business representatives from the community. After extensive study and public input over the course of many months, the Task Force made fifteen recommendations for alleviating traffic and parking concerns in La Jolla. Foremost among the recommendations was the reconfiguration of the throat. The Task Force plan, created with support from professional traffic engineering staff, will move the main intersection from La Jolla Shores Drive to the intersection of Torrey Pines, Ardath Road and Hidden Valley Road, which will also be realigned. The access road in front of the Children's School will be closed to through traffic. When completed, the project will allow more constant traffic flow in all directions, resulting in a 60% reduction in delay and a 65% reduction in queuing in and out of La Jolla.

Shortly after I was elected, well-meaning traffic experts from our community brought additional plans to me for consideration. One would have created a complicated weave of lanes in a pattern used in Mexico but never before tried in the United States. The City traffic engineers were concerned about safety, and it seemed to me that it was too risky to try this kind of experiment on such a busy intersection as ours. The other idea was a modern "roundabout," or traffic circle, such as the one recently completed in Vail, Colorado. The traffic engineers agreed that this would move traffic well, but we would be delayed three years with additional planning and design and we were short at least $8 million in the budget. I presented both alternatives to the community groups, all of which shared my misgivings. Representatives of residents and businesses throughout and around the Village and Shores agreed we should move full speed ahead with the current plan for shorter term relief.

Two weeks ago, the San Diego City Council approved my motion to take the actions necessary to make our community's traffic relief plan a reality. At the same time we reconfigure the traffic pattern, we will also replace subsurface infrastructure. The City staff recently warned (in foreboding bureaucratese) that the existing water pipeline, "installed over 75 years ago, has exhibited failures commensurate with facilities that have exceeded their service life." La Jollans know what that means; we have observed the water main breaks first hand.

In the work to be performed in and around Ardath Road, the City will replace approximately 4,300 feet of water main dating from the 1920s, relocate and replace approximately 4,700 feet of sewer main, and use trenchless technology to rehabilitate 1,200 feet of sewer main. The first phase of this work, already underway, involves the relocation of seventeen of the existing Torrey Pine trees near the fire station, which will eventually be incorporated into the final landscaping. Infrastructure work will begin in February.

I have insisted that the City staff do everything possible to stay on schedule and minimize disruption. Most of the intersection work will be done at night, with the noisiest work between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. rather than sleeping hours. Traffic flow will be maintained in both directions at all times, and with two lanes in each direction during the day. We will erect temporary signage to help resident and visitor navigation through the work area. Finally, by coordinating the infrastructure work with the road work, we will only have to endure this major disruption once in our lifetimes.

It would be silly to suggest that 18 months of construction work will be pleasant or easy. Daily disruptions in routine will be inevitable and I apologize in advance for the times when things go awry. If you have any questions about this project call the project manager, Mike Arnold at (619) 533-3754 for the intersection work and George Freiha at (619) 533-7449 for the water and sewer work on Torrey Pines.

I thank you in advance for your patience and understanding during this project. Eighteen months from now, I'm sure we will agree that this temporary pain was worth it.