Extensive road safety improvements coming to The City of San Marcos
As part of the City’s ongoing commitment to continuously improve road safety and traffic flow, construction will begin early next year and continue over the next five years to keep motorists moving, especially along the Highway 78 corridor.
While many of these projects will bring short-term traffic impacts and inconvenience, the work paves the way for long-term improvements that will provide access enhancements that are critical to overall traffic safety for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Here is an overview:
Intersection Safety Upgrades: Spring 2016. Intersections throughout the city that have the highest collision rates will receive safety improvements in this federally funded project. Speed feedback signs will be installed at various roadway curves throughout the City to help reduce speeding and minimize accidents in which cars run off the road. Also, starting in late 2017, the San Marcos Boulevard and Discovery Street intersection will be improved to handle more traffic.
New traffic light: Summer 2016. A new traffic signal will be installed at the intersection of South Santa Fe Road and Smilax Road to make it safer to cross through the intersection. Work will being in summer 2016.
State Route 78 widening: Spring 2017. Work to widen Highway 78 between Woodland Parkway and Twin Oaks Valley Road interchanges will add east and westbound auxiliary lanes to make it easier to enter and exit the highway in this area.
Traffic Management Center upgrades: Spring 2017. Improvements to the City’s traffic management system will provide better backup power to the Traffic Management Center (TMC) that will ultimately enhance traffic signal timing during disaster-related evacuations or extended power outages. This project also will include upgrades to improve communications with the traffic signal system for better signal synchronization.
East Mission Road fiber optic project: Spring 2017. To improve traffic signal coordination along the 78 corridor, including Woodland Parkway and out to Escondido at Nordahl Road, the City will complete “backbone” fiber optic cable on arterial streets throughout San Marcos by Spring 2017.
Citywide traffic signal system Ethernet conversion: Spring 2017. This federally funded project will significantly enhance the capacity of the fiber optic communication system. The conversion will improve monitoring and adjusting of traffic signal timing and coordination to enhance overall traffic flow and safety on city streets.
Woodland Parkway interchange improvements: Summer 2017. To improve traffic circulation and vehicle capacity, the Woodland Parkway/State Route (SR) 78 interchange will receive much needed enhancements. Barham Drive between Cal State San Marcos and the interchange will be widened and realigned. This project also includes widening of Woodland Parkway under the freeway, improving on- and off ramps, and makes other circulation improvements. In the same area, SR-78 will be widened to accommodate future HOV lanes planned for 2025.
Palomar Station Pedestrian Bridge: 2018. A new pedestrian bridge will provide a safe connection over Mission Road between the Palomar Station SPRINTER transit stop and the Palomar College bus hub. The project will also add a direct pedestrian connection between the transit-oriented development just to the south and Palomar College. Funds come from a federal grant, developer contributions and the City.
To learn more about these and other traffic safety and road work projects, visit www.san-marcos.net/cip
