Written by William Hale
One street in Mira Mesa was changed in a perplexing way recently. Gold Coast Drive was formerly an ordinary street with two lanes, but now the street has one lane with cars coming from both directions, along with two bike lanes immediately to the sides of the single lane.
The dysfunctional new road was intended to incentivize more bicycle users for environmental concerns, but after watching a recent video of the street’s traffic in real-time, one can’t help but think that Gold Coast Drive might be one of the most dangerous roads for cyclists in the state.
Nonetheless, the backlash from Mira Mesa residents resulted in the City of San Diego apologizing for the street design. At Monday’s Mira Mesa Town Council meeting, a representative from the City of San Diego said that, “We want to offer our sincerest apologies on how this project was implemented, without any outreach or education with the community, plain and simple, we messed up.”
San Diego’s climate action plan can be partially blamed for these odd infrastructure projects; the city is aiming for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, but with Gold Coast Drive being such a disaster, all similar projects are said to be placed on hold for now.
On the bright side, Monday’s meeting seemed to be productive. Jeff Stevens — Chair of the Mira Mesa Community Planning Group — said that it was a good meeting, and that it was good that the city’s rationale was explained.
However, Stevens did note some issues with the City of San Diego, “I would have liked to have heard a little more acknowledgment that they might actually do something because they basically apologized for not informing us, but not for having any second thoughts about the design,” Stevens said.
Gold Coast Drive will remain a one-lane street indefinitely.
Photo Cred: KUSI
