Traffic commission recommends City Council not proceed with Tyler Street Complete Streets plan

The Carlsbad Traffic Safety and Mobility Commission voted 4–1 on July 1 to recommend that the City Council not proceed with the proposed Tyler Street Complete Streets project, saying the street currently functions acceptably and city resources are better spent elsewhere.

Staff presented the Tyler Street study and recommended Option 1 — a targeted package of high-visibility crosswalks, curb extensions, reconstructed eastern driveways for improved ADA access, sharrows and a limited west-side sidewalk extension to Walnut Avenue. Nick Gorman, associate engineer, told the commission the team collected traffic data in December 2022 showing the busiest block had about 760 daily vehicles, 145 trucks, 170 pedestrians and 27 bicycles, and reported two collisions in five years (a DUI sideswipe and a single-bicycle crash). Gorman summarized three initial concepts from the Village and Barrio master plan, explained why staff removed the shared-space/paver option and a one-way concept (ADA, drainage, business access and emergency-response concerns), and said staff recommended the smaller-scale Option 1 as a potential first phase.

Why it mattered: residents and businesses raised safety and access concerns that commissioners said staff should address before advancing a council referral. Two public speakers urged different approaches: Matt Hall, a longtime resident, said curb extensions at tight corners would force very large trucks to “literally have to pull the rigs… over the curb” and create turning and staging conflicts near the Boys & Girls Club; Gil Alvarado, another resident, said he supports one-way designs and relayed that many businesses he spoke with were open to a one-way concept because of constrained frontage and intensive local activity. Staff acknowledged those concerns: Gorman said conceptual curb extensions were designed to accommodate fire trucks and that detailed design would check larger delivery rigs and could use rollable curbs where necessary; city traffic engineer John Kim explained state parking/daylighting rules and how a curb extension changes legal parking distances from crosswalks (from 20 feet to 15 feet in the presence of a curb extension).

Commissioner discussion focused on truck access, the practical effect on parking, the project’s cost and timing, and whether the proposed safety benefits justify spending now. Commissioners pressed staff for a construction cost estimate (staff said one is not yet available and would be developed for City Council), asked whether outreach (letters, door-to-door visits, on-site meetings) had been sufficient, and debated whether the recommended improvements could be achieved with lower-cost striping and education rather than curb construction.

A motion to approve staff recommendations but exclude the west-side sidewalk extension failed. The chair then moved that the commission recommend City Council not proceed with the project, adding that “the way that the street functions currently is more than acceptable and that investing resources in the current environment right now doesn't seem to make sense” given other municipal priorities. The motion passed 4–1.

Next steps: the commission’s recommendation will be transmitted to City Council; staff said they will prepare cost estimates and follow council direction if council asks staff to pursue a design alternative. The commission also requested future presentations on the newly effective daylighting law and for staff to consider lower-cost striping and education alongside any future engineering work.