Car in the bike lane on Mt. Acadia Boulevard

"I’ve lived in San Diego since 1973 and I've never seen our roads this horrible," said Clairemont resident Linda Loveland on January 27. "I use Mount Acadia Boulevard every day to go to and from work from my home on Mount Everest Boulevard to downtown via Interstate 5. No matter which direction I leave my house from, all the surrounding roads are in really bad shape. So I drive on the right shoulder on Mount Acadia Boulevard to avoid those horrible potholes, except of course when pedestrians or bike riders are in it."

The stretch of Mount Acadia that is giving Loveland and other residents the most grief runs along Tecolote Canyon between Snead Avenue and Via Arcilla Boulevard. It was described by one neighbor as feeling as though she is driving bumper cars. This same neighbor saw a car drive into the bike lane on January 27 as a pedestrian was using it to hike up Mount Acadia.

"The city’s contract workers have been working on major roads in Clairemont for quite some time,” said Loveland. “They seem to start on one area, abandon it, and start on another before finishing the one they started." Case in point is Mount Acadia along Tecolote Canyon. Half of the road is paved (from Cowley Way to Snead Avenue at the Tecolote Golf Course). From there on up, to Via Arcilla, it's a rough ride.

An avid cyclist, Dave Nicolai, said on January 26, "Too many people take it for granted that there is never a bike rider on Tecolote Canyon. So motorists use the bike lane to avoid the potholes created by the heavy traffic that use it instead of Balboa, which is almost as bad. Cyclists and pedestrians are there and appear when you least expect it. Tecolote Canyon is crappy. It has been that way since I moved here. I use that stretch on a bike quite a lot instead of Balboa. I might have to reconsider."

On January 27, Rebecca Kelley from councilmember Chris Cate's office said, "Our office has been working on this stretch of Mt. Acadia for several months. Due in large part to our efforts, the City of San Diego’s Streets Division added this area of Mt. Acadia to their overlay schedule. According to the City of San Diego’s Public Works Department, construction will begin in June of this year (complete overlay, re-pavement)."

On January 26, the San Diego City Council voted to advance councilmember Mark Kersey's June ballot measure to dedicate funding for streets and other infrastructure needs for the next 30 years. It was first proposed in December in the infrastructure committee. Gina Jacobs from Kersey's office said, "The next vote is not yet officially scheduled but was discussed to be February 9."

The ballot measure proposes committing existing revenue streams — including sales tax, general fund growth, and pension payment savings — to come up with $5 billion in funds, according to Jacobs. She said, "It would be a percentage of sales tax growth over a set baseline, to be determined; 50 percent of new general fund revenue, for first five years; and all of the pension payment savings."

Jacobs went on to say that if the measure passes it will ensure a dedicated funding stream for infrastructure that the city doesn't have now.

To report neighborhood streets in need of repair, download the city's app or report them online to the city's Street Division.

(corrected 1/29, 11:25 a.m.)