Solana Beach Council Considers Options for Safe Routes to School

Solana Beach City Council members listened to a series of Safe Routes to School recommendations during a January 11 meeting as the city prepares its Caltrans grant application.

“It’s very comprehensive and has a lot of great ideas,” Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Hebner said. “I look forward to the day when all this will be realized. It will also help our senior-friendly communities through walkability, safety and so on.”

The Safe Routes to School program is funded by $165,000 from Caltrans and $55,000 from Solana Beach’s TransNet funds, which comes from a half-cent sales tax. Its goals are to create safer routes for residents, especially commuting students to and from school, to walk and bike around Solana Beach.

The targets also include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging walking and cycling, according to the city’s report.

Safe Routes to School is being developed at nine sites: Skyline Elementary School, Solana Vista Elementary School, Earl Warren High School, Santa Fe Christian Schools, St. James, LePort Montessori, Fusion Academy, San Dieguito Boys & Girls Clubs (Solana). location of the beach club) and a children’s development center.

The program began in summer 2021 with a project website and questionnaire, a mobility assessment and nine sites included in the program, and a presentation to the city council.

“The result of these efforts will be the Safe Routes to School program, which identifies gaps and opportunities, primarily in the walking and cycling environments near these nine sites,” City Manager Greg Wade wrote in a report to the council.

Pop-up outreach events were held last year at Fiesta Del Sol in May, Concerts at the Cove in August, and the Solana Beach Library in September.

The city also collected about 200 questionnaires from residents, according to a staff report. Some comments suggested that the city should address gaps in pavements and missing pavements in areas leading to schools, drivers who race on Lomas Santa Fe Drive, long crossing distances and lack of visibility, and students biking on sidewalk.

Additional comments from residents, based on group discussions organized following the November City Council Workshop, included making traffic lights detect bicycles, maintaining sidewalk continuity near the firehouse, installing ADA-compliant ramps, and providing safe routes to the School Program in line with the Lomas Corridor Improvement Plan Santa Fe.

For more information, visit cityofsolanabeach.org/en/safe-routes-to-school.

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