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Encinitas adopts AB 43 speed‑limit evaluation, approves policy for adding streets after post‑implementation review
Summary
After a staff review of streets where Assembly Bill 43 reductions were implemented, the council adopted a policy requiring multi‑factor thresholds for adding streets to the AB 43 list and directed annual review of the program.
Staff presented a post-implementation review of the city’s roll-out of Assembly Bill 43 speed‑limit reductions and recommended a policy for future modifications to the AB 43 street list.
City Traffic Engineer A. Bandigan summarized the background: AB 43 (state law) permits jurisdictions to set lower posted speeds by using an 85th (often described as 80th/85th) percentile analysis and, in some cases, to add extra reductions for identified safety corridors or lines of high bicycle and pedestrian activity. Encinitas implemented a citywide signage program after AB 43 became effective July 1, 2024; staff said the signage program cost roughly $100,000 and that implementation changed posted speeds across a range of streets.
Staff presented before‑and‑after speed data for a sample of streets (12 segments reviewed). Bandigan said eight of the 12 sample corridors recorded a measurable drop in the measured 85th‑percentile speeds after the city’s implementation, two were essentially unchanged and two increased slightly. The greatest reductions were on higher‑speed corridors; smaller or no changes were more typical on already‑low speed residential streets.
Council discussed enforcement and data collection. Bandigan confirmed the department used camera and radar data collected over multiple days to estimate the 85th‑percentile speeds; staff also noted enforcement activity in the months after implementation was lower in the second half of 2024, likely because the initial months included more education and warnings rather than citation issuance.
Staff recommended a formal policy to add or remove streets from the AB 43 list and proposed that a candidate roadway should meet a multi-factor threshold (staff recommended at least five of a list of criteria tied to concentration of residences/businesses, collisions, lack of bike/ped facilities, school proximity and other factors) before being added. Council approved the staff recommendation to adopt the evaluation report and the policy to require multi‑factor thresholds for adding streets. Council also directed staff to bring the AB 43 city list back on an annual basis for review and refinement.
The motion passed unanimously. Councilmembers discussed travel time and neighborhood traffic patterns and asked staff to continue monitoring enforcement and to use enforcement data together with engineering data when assessing future changes.
