Commission recommends 11 residential streets for AB 43 5-mph reductions; council will decide

The Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission voted to forward a list of 11 residential streets to the City Council for possible inclusion in the city’s AB 43 street list, which allows selected roads to receive a five-miles-per-hour speed-limit reduction.

The recommendation passed 3–2. Commissioners Patricia Trauth, Chris Duncan and David Thiele voted in favor; Vice Chair Glenn Johnson and Commissioner Paul Templin voted no.

AB 43 lets cities reduce posted limits by 5 mph on qualifying business or residential districts and on safety corridors or roads with high concentrations of pedestrians and bicyclists. Traffic engineer Ian Barr told the commission the city uses a quarter-mile (1,320-foot) window and a set of criteria derived from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) to confirm eligibility.

Barr said staff received 12 resident requests and evaluated each against the adopted city policy. Eleven met the AB 43 criteria; one—San Elijo Avenue—did not because it failed the residence-district driveway-count requirement. Streets recommended to move forward include San Elijo, Andrew Avenue, Sanford, Cornish, San Dieguito, Ocean Cove, Clark Avenue, La Mirada, Del Rio, Puebla and Union (as listed in staff materials). Final inclusion will require a council ordinance amendment.

Commission discussion focused on process and neighborhood engagement. Several commissioners and staff noted the city policy currently permits a single resident to request an evaluation and that council previously directed staff to begin with streets within a quarter mile of schools. Commissioner Glenn Johnson asked whether a required petition or neighborhood vote should be added to the program; staff said that change would be a council-level policy decision and could be recommended by the commission when the list goes to council.

Commissioners also asked about effectiveness. Barr and staff said their prior before-and-after work shows larger speed reductions on higher-speed roads (for example, 50→45 mph corridors) than on already-low residential streets; reductions from 25 to 20 mph typically produce smaller drops in the 85th-percentile speed.

The Commission’s recommendation will be packaged with staff findings and returned to council for an ordinance update. Council can accept the list, alter criteria (for example, increasing the number of required MUTCD generators) or require a petition/neighborhood vote before adding streets.

Votes and next steps: the commission passed a motion recommending the 11 streets be added to the AB 43 list and asked staff to include the item on council’s ordinance docket. Council action is required to change posted speed limits under the AB 43 process.