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

Good intentions behind paving of Scripps Trail

"When it rains, we'll have chunks of asphalt that come loose."

Claudia Walker and neighbor Bob Camacho stand near an area of patched road on Scripps Trail.
Claudia Walker and neighbor Bob Camacho stand near an area of patched road on Scripps Trail.

More than a decade deep in a battle with San Diego city government to get their deteriorating road repaved, residents along the northern stretch of Scripps Trail seem no closer to getting answers than when they began.

Claudia Walker's family bought a home on the 10400 block of the street, a quiet, neatly manicured tract in Scripps Ranch near where the northeastern edge of the city shares its border with Poway, in 2004. Upon meeting longtime residents, she says street repairs were one of the first things to come up.

Numerous streets surrounding Scripps Trail (highlighted in orange and blue) have been repaired in recent years

"Literally, the day we moved in they said, 'Hi, we're your neighbors — we've been trying to get the street repaved.' So that's what's been going on for 14 years," Walker recounts when we meet on the sidewalk outside her home. Though it's the middle of a weekday, traffic is steady, with a half-dozen cars and the occasional delivery truck rumbling past every minute. Most drivers barely tap their brakes to acknowledge the stop sign posted on the corner and blur of paint that vaguely resembles the word "stop" painted in the street.

The road itself is noticeably rougher than surrounding streets — many of which, according to the city's Streets Division website, have been repaired in recent years. Asphalt is cracking and peeling away in places, while tar patches cover other cracks in random cross-hatchings.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"When it rains, we'll have chunks of asphalt that come loose and wash out down the road," Walker continues. "We go out and pick them up and toss them in the trash can — we're literally throwing away our street."

After receiving an invitation to suggest neighborhood improvements from city councilmember Mark Kersey in late 2016, Walker sent the first in a series of emails complaining about the condition of Scripps Trail. When she didn't receive a response, she intensified her research.

"There was probably a four-month gap between the letters I sent and during that time I started doing research. I found that there's an Overlay Asphalt History Report; it goes all the way back to 1901, covering every street in the city of San Diego, and it's 1200 pages. It's not alphabetical either, it's by date. I kept going and going through maintenance records until I found it: June 1, 1981, the date the street was first put in.

"We have kids," Walker continues. "We’re about a mile away from the school, a park, the swim-and-racquet club — during the summertime and around school hours this street is heavily trafficked by kids on bikes, skateboards. There have been times they've hit a crack, crevice, what have you, and have gone flying, ended up with injuries."

Finally, after a third email she admits "definitely was by no means nice," Walker got in touch with Quinton Grounds, a Kersey staffer whom she says has been helpful in trying to translate her years-long complaint into action, including convincing San Diego Gas & Electric to re-route their heavy construction trucks away from the street. In response to an interview request, Grounds deferred to Anthony Santacroce, a senior public information officer with the city.

"It's on our radar and we are set to evaluate it for what kind of work needs to be done, but that's all I have — no time tables, work that's been committed to, design work in process, or anything like that," Santacroce begins before explaining the city's process for prioritizing road repairs and offering a theory as to why Scripps Trail may have been passed over when crews were repairing nearby side-streets.

"We're aware of that stretch of road and need to evaluate it because it might need more work than just an asphalt overlay or slurry seal," Santacroce continues. "You'll notice that a lot of the streets in the area have a good overall condition index, which is the national standard for grading roads. That leads me to believe that maybe the section in question maybe needs a new clay base, needs to be dug out, needs a reconstruction. This is just speculation from previous experience; again, we haven't evaluated the road to be sure of what needs to be done.

"That kind of work includes a longer design time; there are a lot of other factors that go into more serious work like this than a basic slurry seal or asphalt overlay."

Going block-by-block over a six-block stretch approaching Walker's home, Scripps Trail received overall condition-index ratings ratings ranging from 38 (poor) to 65 (fair) during a 2011 survey. By 2015, the latest year for which data is available, the ratings actually rose to a range of 59 to 89, despite no major repairs having taken place. The stretch in front of Walker's home currently garners a "good" rating of 81.

The time line, or lack thereof, laid out by Santacroce doesn't surprise Walker.

"The city has kept telling us, 'Oh, you're not on the docket for work,' and then, 'You know what, now it's so far gone that it's not just a simple re-slurry. We need to completely resurface and we don't have the money for that.'

"We're heavily trafficked — we've got trucks coming through, we get fire trucks because this is the quickest way to Pomerado…all of this is going on and the city hasn't touched the street in over 30 years?"

Walker says she's seen a list of proposed road repairs to take place in the city's fiscal year 2019, which begins this July. Scripps Trail, for the 38th straight year, does not make the cut.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief
Next Article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island
Claudia Walker and neighbor Bob Camacho stand near an area of patched road on Scripps Trail.
Claudia Walker and neighbor Bob Camacho stand near an area of patched road on Scripps Trail.

More than a decade deep in a battle with San Diego city government to get their deteriorating road repaved, residents along the northern stretch of Scripps Trail seem no closer to getting answers than when they began.

Claudia Walker's family bought a home on the 10400 block of the street, a quiet, neatly manicured tract in Scripps Ranch near where the northeastern edge of the city shares its border with Poway, in 2004. Upon meeting longtime residents, she says street repairs were one of the first things to come up.

Numerous streets surrounding Scripps Trail (highlighted in orange and blue) have been repaired in recent years

"Literally, the day we moved in they said, 'Hi, we're your neighbors — we've been trying to get the street repaved.' So that's what's been going on for 14 years," Walker recounts when we meet on the sidewalk outside her home. Though it's the middle of a weekday, traffic is steady, with a half-dozen cars and the occasional delivery truck rumbling past every minute. Most drivers barely tap their brakes to acknowledge the stop sign posted on the corner and blur of paint that vaguely resembles the word "stop" painted in the street.

The road itself is noticeably rougher than surrounding streets — many of which, according to the city's Streets Division website, have been repaired in recent years. Asphalt is cracking and peeling away in places, while tar patches cover other cracks in random cross-hatchings.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"When it rains, we'll have chunks of asphalt that come loose and wash out down the road," Walker continues. "We go out and pick them up and toss them in the trash can — we're literally throwing away our street."

After receiving an invitation to suggest neighborhood improvements from city councilmember Mark Kersey in late 2016, Walker sent the first in a series of emails complaining about the condition of Scripps Trail. When she didn't receive a response, she intensified her research.

"There was probably a four-month gap between the letters I sent and during that time I started doing research. I found that there's an Overlay Asphalt History Report; it goes all the way back to 1901, covering every street in the city of San Diego, and it's 1200 pages. It's not alphabetical either, it's by date. I kept going and going through maintenance records until I found it: June 1, 1981, the date the street was first put in.

"We have kids," Walker continues. "We’re about a mile away from the school, a park, the swim-and-racquet club — during the summertime and around school hours this street is heavily trafficked by kids on bikes, skateboards. There have been times they've hit a crack, crevice, what have you, and have gone flying, ended up with injuries."

Finally, after a third email she admits "definitely was by no means nice," Walker got in touch with Quinton Grounds, a Kersey staffer whom she says has been helpful in trying to translate her years-long complaint into action, including convincing San Diego Gas & Electric to re-route their heavy construction trucks away from the street. In response to an interview request, Grounds deferred to Anthony Santacroce, a senior public information officer with the city.

"It's on our radar and we are set to evaluate it for what kind of work needs to be done, but that's all I have — no time tables, work that's been committed to, design work in process, or anything like that," Santacroce begins before explaining the city's process for prioritizing road repairs and offering a theory as to why Scripps Trail may have been passed over when crews were repairing nearby side-streets.

"We're aware of that stretch of road and need to evaluate it because it might need more work than just an asphalt overlay or slurry seal," Santacroce continues. "You'll notice that a lot of the streets in the area have a good overall condition index, which is the national standard for grading roads. That leads me to believe that maybe the section in question maybe needs a new clay base, needs to be dug out, needs a reconstruction. This is just speculation from previous experience; again, we haven't evaluated the road to be sure of what needs to be done.

"That kind of work includes a longer design time; there are a lot of other factors that go into more serious work like this than a basic slurry seal or asphalt overlay."

Going block-by-block over a six-block stretch approaching Walker's home, Scripps Trail received overall condition-index ratings ratings ranging from 38 (poor) to 65 (fair) during a 2011 survey. By 2015, the latest year for which data is available, the ratings actually rose to a range of 59 to 89, despite no major repairs having taken place. The stretch in front of Walker's home currently garners a "good" rating of 81.

The time line, or lack thereof, laid out by Santacroce doesn't surprise Walker.

"The city has kept telling us, 'Oh, you're not on the docket for work,' and then, 'You know what, now it's so far gone that it's not just a simple re-slurry. We need to completely resurface and we don't have the money for that.'

"We're heavily trafficked — we've got trucks coming through, we get fire trucks because this is the quickest way to Pomerado…all of this is going on and the city hasn't touched the street in over 30 years?"

Walker says she's seen a list of proposed road repairs to take place in the city's fiscal year 2019, which begins this July. Scripps Trail, for the 38th straight year, does not make the cut.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
Next Article

Temperature inversions bring smoggy weather, "ankle biters" still biting

Near-new moon will lead to a dark Halloween
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.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader