Encinitas council members Kellie Shay Hinze & Tony Kranz issued the following statement:
Safe, legal and accessible railroad crossings for pedestrians and bikes are needed urgently between Encinitas Blvd and La Costa Avenue. A $13 million grade-separated crossing is now under construction across the street from Paul Ecke Central School, but the design and engineering for a similar project in the northwest part of Leucadia hasn’t been fully budgeted, nor have the resources to build such a project been identified.
Long-anticipated improvements—including the North Coast Highway 101 Streetscape Project, expansion of parking areas west of the tracks and grading along Vulcan—utilize the North County Transit District (NCTD) railroad right-of-way and increase the community's use of the corridor. However, east-west connections are lacking. Installation of post-and-cable fencing began this week as part of the construction of parking improvements on the west side of the corridor in Phase 1 of the Streetscape project. Additional fencing will be constructed in the near future depending on the appropriate timing for the projects currently underway. The fencing is designed to keep accidents from occurring once parking and pathways are installed closer to the railroad and also to deter east-west crossing of the tracks.
With fencing imminent, the imperative to deliver sensible, safe crossings rises to top priority. Grade-separated crossings are less logical in this stretch of the NCTD corridor where flat topography will likely require the construction of significant retaining walls to get under the tracks. Additionally, the surrounding community favors multiple crossings rather than a single location in the 1.3 mile stretch. An at-grade approach could likely be more cost-effective and deliver more frequent crossings than a single undercross.
For over a century, the community informally (albeit illegally) crosses the tracks in a corridor that lacks reasonable alternatives within a 1.3 mile stretch. Informal historic access favors able-bodied folks willing to risk the legal and financial costs of crossing where no legal alternative exists. A comprehensive plan to pursue at-grade crossings will, for the first time, create crossings safe for all ages and abilities. Families with strollers, wheelchairs, bikes, strollers, skateboards and scooters will be able to access beaches, businesses, parks and schools for the first time without incurring safety or legal risks.
In an effort to accelerate the process of building safe and legal at-grade pedestrian crossings, a meeting between city and NCTD staff members, representatives from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) convened to explore the feasibility of at-grade bike and pedestrian crossings between La Costa Avenue and Leucadia Boulevard. At-grade crossings are the same type of safe crossings as the six which have been in use for the last 15 years in the City of San Clemente.
An example of a bike and pedestrian only crossing in San Clemente.
If this approach is supported by the city council, as a first step, city and NCTD staff will conduct an analysis to assess whether building San Clemente-style bike and pedestrian at-grade crossings would improve the overall safety of the railroad corridor. If the study provides data to support San Clemente-style at-grade crossings in Encinitas, a design consultant would be hired to prepare a package for submission to the CPUC and FRA for approval.
Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, whose legislation (AB 1017) signed by the Governor in 2019 to ensure more technical assistance for communities implementing at-grade pedestrian rail crossings, supports the city’s plans to bring safer crossings to Encinitas. Understanding the urgency of the issue, she has pledged her office’s assistance in navigating the regulatory approval process should the project advance to this stage.
To be sure, the costs of at-grade crossings are not insignificant, and pivoting to this alternative approach has not been considered by the full city council yet. But we are willing to work with all interested parties to accelerate the pace of finding solutions to address the need for more safe and legal crossings of the railroad corridor.
Post and cable fencing between the railroad corridor and the bike and pedestrian area along the rail trail in San Clemente.