Traffic Calming, Fresh Bike Lanes and More Safety Improvements Installed in Skyline Hills

On March 21st, local dignitaries and elected officials celebrated the completion of the Skyline Drive Corridor Improvements Project. This $1.4 million project in District 4 installed “traffic calming features, pedestrian and bike enhancements, additional traffic signals, neighborhood monument signs and other street improvements along Skyline Drive from 58th Street to Cardiff Street.”

For context purposes, the intersection at Cardiff Street and Skyline Drive in Southeast San Diego used to have one of those free right turns that is the bane of a vibrant city life. These free right turns cause drivers to speed and puts the lives of people, outside a motor vehicle, in danger and creates a highway style environment on our urban city streets.

Back in the 90s, this is what that intersection, in this otherwise quiet residential neighborhood, looked like.

At some point in the mid-90s, this intersection received a buffered paint treatment along with some plastic pylons to right-angle the intersection and thus slow down the right turning vehicle traffic. This served the purpose of slowing down vehicles prior to turning right. And this treatment stayed well into late 2011.

Below is what those buffered sections looked like from a street perspective.

The new project, converted the painted buffer into a more substantial, permanent and prettier looking pedestrian space at this intersection. The city also upgraded the median along Skyline Drive to look a bit more spiffy and the narrowed travel lanes seemed to have all drivers driving at a more sane pace suitable for a residential neighborhood.

Is there room for improvement at this intersection? Yes. First, the bike lane should be next to the side walk and protected by parked cars – like it is done in other world class bicycle friendly cities – parked cars don’t need any protection, bicycle riders do. Second, the city continued its bad habit of dropping the bike lane marking across the intersection giving no direction to either riders of drivers on how to get across or turn at the intersection. So a suggestion to the city would be to quit its bad habit of dropping bike lanes at intersections and provide some direction (with paint) to give all the road users on how to traverse across the intersection as well.

But overall, a very nice improvement. And one we look forward to seeing around the city.