Escondido staff favors signalized fix for South Escondido Boulevard, seeks Caltrans OK for $1.4M earmark

City of Escondido staff and consultant SDC Traffic recommended a signalized redesign for the South Escondido Boulevard and Center City Parkway corridor at the Transportation and Community Safety Commission meeting Oct. 9. The preferred plan — identified as Alternative 4 in consultant materials — would install signal control on the north and south approaches, provide separate southbound left‑turn and right‑turn movements, and add a staggered, signalized pedestrian crossing at Brotherton.

The proposal comes after a string of collisions at South Escondido and follows a rescoping of the city’s earmarked federal funding. "This was the best operational alternative," Christian Lambarth, project manager for SDC Traffic, said as he presented the 30% concept designs and performance modeling. Lambarth said earlier full‑access signal concepts created long queues on Center City Parkway and that Alternative 4 produced the best balance of delay and queue lengths in the consultant’s analysis.

City staff said the project is funded with a $1,400,000 legislative earmark secured through Congressman Darrell Issa. Craig Williams (staff) told the commission the earmark covers…