Carlsbad scales back Barrio traffic circles

Citing parking concerns, emergency access, and public input, city officials reduce traffic circle project to one intersection and will explore alternative calming measures

The Carlsbad City Council reduced the number of traffic circles to one as part of the

CARLSBAD — The City Council is scaling back the proposed Barrio Traffic Circles Project after backlash to the cost, effectiveness and loss of parking.

The project has been in the works for 11 years as part of the Village and Barrio Master Plan and initially proposed five traffic circles throughout the Barrio in an effort to reduce speeding, especially along Madison, Harding and Roosevelt streets. The council instead opted for a reduced project with one traffic circle at Harding Street and Pine Avenue, while staff will return with a new plan in November with other features, such as stop signs, speed humps, raised crosswalks and intersections, among others.

Also, the city may lose federal grant funding as part of the revised project after it secured $5 million from Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) for the $11 million project. A larger portion of the grant, though, will likely be reallocated to the Barrio Lighting Project, according to Deputy City Manager Paz Gomez.

For many Barrio residents, speeding, e-bikes and other unsafe traffic behavior have been concerns for years. Councilwoman Melanie Burkholder, who represents the Barrio, Mayor Keith Blackburn and Councilman Kevin Shin said many residents didn’t care much about which solution, but the urgent need for action. However, other residents were staunchly against the circles and loss of parking attached to those installations.

Another big issue was the loss of parking spaces, although Transportation Director Tom Frank said the city is working on identifying more spots.

“I heard speeding e-bikes and lighting are all concerns,” Burkholder added. “I heard they felt left behind and the want action. I came here to advocate for zero circles. However, Mr. Frank has given me new information relative to the net seven parking spaces we would gain.”