City of San Diego announces traffic safety fixes to seven problem areas

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego officials announced plans on Monday to make traffic safety improvements in seven areas in the coming months, as advocates continue to push for changes to some of the city's most dangerous intersections.

City staff said they chose areas which have seen a higher volume of crashes — particularly those that involved pedestrians, serious injuries, or fatalities — based on data from 2023. Each selected for changes had five or more collisions during the period reviewed.

The seven locations were selected for improvements are:

• Art Street at El Cajon Boulevard
• Kurtz Street at Rosecrans Street
• Miramar Road at Nobel Drive
• Briarwood Road at Paradise Valley Road
• Pacific Highway at Taylor Street
• El Cajon Boulevard from 63rd Street to Choctaw Drive
• Market Street from 26th Street to 27th Street 

"I think these are good changes they’re making and we are going to continue to advocate that they also fix the 'Fatal 15,'" said Will Moore, referring to a list of the city's most dangerous intersections compiled by the nonprofit, Circulate San Diego.

Moore is policy counsel for the nonprofit. He says the organization focused on fatalities over a longer period of time to come up with the "Fatal 15" list, but there is some crossover.

Though they honed in on different intersections, Circulate San Diego and the city both identified Rosecrans Street as a problem area in the Midway District. El Cajon Boulevard in the College Area also takes up two spots on the city list.

"El Cajon from 63rd Street to Choctaw Avenue is a dangerous spot and if we made a fatal 17 or 20, it probably would’ve been on there," said Moore.

Among the improvements are additional signs, crosswalks, countdown timers and upgrades to signals.

In 2015, the city council adopted "Vision Zero": a goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2025. That marker hasn’t been met.

"Cars are faster, they accelerate faster, they’re heavier. If they hit you, they’re more likely to kill you," explained Moore. "One interesting thing we found was the number of crashes did not actually go up that much. The number of fatalities did."

Moore still applauds the city for any step in the right direction, but notes the work is far from finished.

"Our approach was noble, but we don’t get points for intentions when we’re trying to save lives."

The city says traffic engineering teams are working on designs and scheduling work for these projects. Many projects will be installed quickly by city crews, while others will require additional funding.