Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Encinitas: Roundabout Capital of California

Traffic circles planned for off-ramps at Birmingham Drive

Birmingham Drive/Interstate 5 interchange
Birmingham Drive/Interstate 5 interchange

Caltrans has announced future improvements to the Birmingham Drive/Interstate 5 interchange in Cardiff by the Sea — roundabouts, rather than traffic signals.

The Birmingham Drive exits are the last remaining I-5 interchanges that don’t have traffic signals. Motorists have to practice their rights-of-way knowledge when quickly getting off either the northbound or southbound off-ramps. During the morning and evening commutes, drivers are delayed while awaiting their turn and traffic backs up.

Rather than expensive signals, which lead to increased congestion (a problem compounded by the southbound off-ramp location of the Encinitas fire station’s signals), Caltrans put forward last week the idea of installing roundabouts as a possible solution.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Following its reputation as the “Flower Capital of the World,” Encinitas is becoming known as the “Roundabout Capital of California.” Three roundabouts are already in use: two on Leucadia Boulevard and one of Santa Fe Drive, with five more planned on Coast Highway 101 from A Street to La Costa Avenue.

Interviewed on May 8, local motorists at the exits’ three gas stations commented on the roundabout plan for the heavily used Birmingham Drive. One described it as an “accident waiting to happen.”

Hugo from Cardiff questioned the narrowness of the Birmingham overpass, which was built in 1964. He thought the bridge would be too narrow to handle all the morning commuters coming through the proposed traffic circles. Semi trucks and RVs also use the exit to access Coast Highway 101 and the San Elijo State Beach campground.

Others said they felt most drivers do not know how to use roundabouts. That may be true, as the DMV did not include roundabout driving rules in the California Driver Handbook until 2010.

The complete roundabout vs. signal analysis was conducted for Caltrans in 2009 by Wilson and Company. Traffic-volume projections for the interchange were calculated up to the year 2030; that’s the projected completion date of Caltrans’ I-5 North Coast Corridor widening project from La Jolla Village Drive to Harbor Drive in Oceanside.

The exhaustive study appears to add bike lanes and sidewalks, and requires the taking of little sections of land from the Valero, Chevron, and USA gas stations, and Caltrans’ Park N Ride facility. However, as projected, no closure of those businesses would be needed. The Cardiff fire station, on the freeway’s northwest corner, was built in 2011. The interchange and freeway expansion were taken into account in its site plan.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Taco Taco Poway still has 99-cent fish tacos

Tacotopia prizewinner is well known among Powegians
Next Article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Birmingham Drive/Interstate 5 interchange
Birmingham Drive/Interstate 5 interchange

Caltrans has announced future improvements to the Birmingham Drive/Interstate 5 interchange in Cardiff by the Sea — roundabouts, rather than traffic signals.

The Birmingham Drive exits are the last remaining I-5 interchanges that don’t have traffic signals. Motorists have to practice their rights-of-way knowledge when quickly getting off either the northbound or southbound off-ramps. During the morning and evening commutes, drivers are delayed while awaiting their turn and traffic backs up.

Rather than expensive signals, which lead to increased congestion (a problem compounded by the southbound off-ramp location of the Encinitas fire station’s signals), Caltrans put forward last week the idea of installing roundabouts as a possible solution.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Following its reputation as the “Flower Capital of the World,” Encinitas is becoming known as the “Roundabout Capital of California.” Three roundabouts are already in use: two on Leucadia Boulevard and one of Santa Fe Drive, with five more planned on Coast Highway 101 from A Street to La Costa Avenue.

Interviewed on May 8, local motorists at the exits’ three gas stations commented on the roundabout plan for the heavily used Birmingham Drive. One described it as an “accident waiting to happen.”

Hugo from Cardiff questioned the narrowness of the Birmingham overpass, which was built in 1964. He thought the bridge would be too narrow to handle all the morning commuters coming through the proposed traffic circles. Semi trucks and RVs also use the exit to access Coast Highway 101 and the San Elijo State Beach campground.

Others said they felt most drivers do not know how to use roundabouts. That may be true, as the DMV did not include roundabout driving rules in the California Driver Handbook until 2010.

The complete roundabout vs. signal analysis was conducted for Caltrans in 2009 by Wilson and Company. Traffic-volume projections for the interchange were calculated up to the year 2030; that’s the projected completion date of Caltrans’ I-5 North Coast Corridor widening project from La Jolla Village Drive to Harbor Drive in Oceanside.

The exhaustive study appears to add bike lanes and sidewalks, and requires the taking of little sections of land from the Valero, Chevron, and USA gas stations, and Caltrans’ Park N Ride facility. However, as projected, no closure of those businesses would be needed. The Cardiff fire station, on the freeway’s northwest corner, was built in 2011. The interchange and freeway expansion were taken into account in its site plan.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dating Sites For Little People: Best Platforms & Tips

Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.