Kearny Villa Road - After the Fix
We last wrote about how sad Kearny Villa Road was for San Diegan cyclists. Shortly afterward, the city did perform repairs on the hazardous cracks on the road as promised.
One of our twitter followers @juanrcm regularly rides Kearny Villa Road. He informed us of the terrible job that the city had done in fixing Kearny Villa Road and took photos showing those fixes:
SignOnSanDiego.com had an updated story on the patchwork done on Kearny Villa Road.
We contacted the Chief of Staff for City Councilmember Marti Emerald asking that the bike lanes be repaved as they were still dangerous for cyclists.
An entire week has gone by and Marti Emerald's office has been silent in responding.
While we continue to wait, be careful when riding on Kearny Villa Road.
The sad state of Kearny Villa Road
Recently, the Union Tribune reported on how dangerous the conditions are on Kearny Villa Road for cyclists. This is not news. In 2001, Larry Mahr was a victim of a fatal collision and, in 2005, Captain Patrick M. Klokow was fatally struck - a victim of a hit and run - all on Kearny Villa Road.
The dismal conditions of the bike lanes along Kearny Villa Road is not the sole culprit. Despite running parallel to the 163 freeway, the speed limit on Kearny Villa Road is 65 mph with drivers frequently going above that speed limit on a regular basis.
Nearly ten years after Mahr's death, Kearny Villa Road is still in shambles. There has been no traffic calming measures installed and the facilities for cyclists is dismal at best.
Cyclists who ride Kearny Villa Road have complained to city officials for years to no avail.
Kearny Vila Road lies in District 7 which is under Councilwoman Marti Emerald's control. We contacted Councilwoman Emerald's Chief of Staff, Xema Jacobson [XJacobson@sandiego.gov] who responded by stating that the problem had been forwarded to San Diego's staff to their traffic engineering department.
According to Kathy Keehan, Executive Director for the San Diego Bicycle Coalition, the city expects the city's contractors to repave some sections of the bike lanes in six weeks. Despite San Diego's deficit, lack of funding is not the issue as money has been allocated toward fixing the bike lanes along Kearny Villa Road.
Meanwhile, this is the current state of Kearny Villa Road as it stands. We'll check back in six weeks and report back on what changes have been made.