Commission backs uniform roundabout signage proposal; staff reports neighborhood vote favored no change at El Portal/La Mesa

The Encinitas Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission reviewed staff92s proposal for a uniform citywide roundabout signing and striping standard and supported forwarding the concept to City Council for design-immunity review.

City traffic engineer A. Bandigan told the commission the newest edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) removes some older signing elements and adds exhibits for mini- and single-lane roundabouts. Staff proposed reintroducing the "yield to traffic in circle" symbol at roundabout approaches, adding advanced-warning signs where appropriate, adding chevrons for larger roundabouts, and installing sharrows where bike lanes drop into the roundabout approach to signal bicyclists should merge into the travel lane.

Bandigan noted the proposal allows site-specific tweaks for locations that need them: El Portal roundabout, for example, was assigned rumble strips by council direction because of a history of collisions involving impairment. "We might have specific tweaks or additions," he said, "but this is our proposed uniform signing and striping." The commission moved and seconded a motion to adopt the citywide proposal and send it to council; staff said they would take the package to City Council for design-immunity purposes.

Separately, staff reported back on an El Portal and La Mesa five-legged intersection study that had been sent to neighborhood vote at the commission's direction. Bandigan said the city received roughly 220 letters submitted and counted about 60 distinct responses after duplicates were removed: roughly 10% preferred stop control, 28% preferred yield control and about 62% preferred no change. With that result, staff said it was acceptable to keep the intersection as-is unless the commission directed otherwise. A handful of residents who live near El Portal spoke in favor of a single stop sign on one approach to make the hazard more visible.

Commission discussion and follow-up: Commissioners asked staff to preserve flexibility for location-specific modifications where crash histories justified them and to return any design packages that required engineering adjustments. Several commissioners also requested follow-up monitoring and potential after-action evaluation once the signage standard has been applied at selected roundabouts.

Ending: Staff said the commission92s action would likely be packaged and forwarded to City Council for formal adoption and design-immunity protection; any site-specific changes would be brought back to the commission for review.