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Staff outlines Escondido transportation projects: Grand Avenue work, Palomar Heights, Lake Wulford resurfacing and signal upgrades
Summary
City traffic staff reviewed progress on multiple active transportation projects, including a phased Grand Avenue reconstruction, Palomar Heights housing nearing completion, Lake Wulford Road resurfacing and plans to modernize signal communications under a Caltrans grant.
Craig Williams, traffic staff for the City of Escondido, delivered the commission’s quarterly progress report on Jan. 9, highlighting multiple active projects that city staff say will expand transportation options and improve safety.
Williams said the Grand Avenue vision-plan work is progressing in phases: the first segment (east-to-west up to Kalmia) is largely complete and open to traffic; crews have removed and replaced pavement and addressed utilities. The city’s communications about closures and parking has improved public access to nearby lots, and a traffic engineering parking study for about a six-block area found roughly 600 public spaces.
Williams also updated commissioners on Palomar Heights, a development east of downtown with roughly 500 units that staff expects will be largely finished in 2025. The project, he said, is likely to increase East Grand commercial activity to serve new residents.
On pavement work, Williams said Lake Wulford Road will be resurfaced as part of the upcoming paving program; staff noted the road’s pavement condition requires substantial maintenance and stabilization. Williams reviewed a safety project at Felicita and Montview (a TMPL project) where a history of roadway departures prompted a package of countermeasures: a speed-feedback sign, additional warning signs, an increased curve radius, new delineation (reflectorized posts), a buffered lane and vegetation removal to improve sight lines.
Williams also described efforts to modernize the city’s traffic signal communications. The city secured a Caltrans Highway Safety Improvement grant to support upgrades. Stack Traffic Consulting performed a field inventory of 68 signals to document which intersections have live communications and which controllers are obsolete. The work aims to replace antiquated controllers, restore a failing Transparity communications system used to monitor signals and eventually connect signal equipment to the city’s planned fiber/Wi‑Fi network.
Why it matters: the projects combine near-term safety countermeasures and longer-term infrastructure investments that affect traffic flow, signal reliability and multimodal access in Escondido.
Williams closed by inviting questions; commissioners thanked staff for the work and progress updates.
