Ramona Planning Group Expresses Concern on San Vicente Road Project

Despite concerns for horses, people and oak trees—and even more speeding—the Ramona Community Planning Group sees the San Vicente Road Improvement Project as “something Ramona needs.”

The 14-member group met Thursday evening at the Ramona Library and heard a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation from Steve Ron, county Department of Public Works project manager for the San Vicente Road Improvement project, and other DPW representatives.

The proposed project area extends about 2.25 miles along San Vicente Road from Warnock Drive to 500 feet east of Wildcat Canyon Road and aims to help straighten out the otherwise curvy road.

Ron gave local planners and an audience of 15 a PowerPoint presentation of the project, showing pictures of two 13-feet wide lanes, a bike lane in each direction and a pathway and parkway on either side.

He said these changes are essential to the dangerous stretch of road, epecially the "deadly" corner near Deviney Lane.

"The difficult and winding curves have caused 70 in the last five years," Ron said at the meeting. "There are no bike lanes or pathways and there is inadequate drainage."

But a a Ramona resident, whose house is 600 feet from San Vicente Road,said CHP reports say those accidents are from drunk driving and speeding incidents.

He said he thinks speeding is the problem, not the cuves.

"I want to be sure that what we're getting is better than what we have," he said at the meeting.

The county is looking to widen the roads by a couple of feet, straighten out dangerous curvatures and add pathways for horseriders, walkers and bikers to utilize.

However, there is no plan for a barrier, such as a guardrail, between the road and these proposed pathways.

Ron said that guardrails may pose threats to horses, bikers or pedestrians becase they're designed to deflect away from a car that may hit them.

"The guardrail deflects 50-100 feet," Ron said. "It can hurt someone on the trail, so no rail is preferred."

Ramona resident Kathy DaSilva suggested a visual barrier of some kind, to help deter cars.

"We need something that's a visual detterent," DaSilva said, suggesting shrubs. "We can't have a kid on a bike riding next to a speeding car."

RCPG member Richard Tomlinson agreed with DaSilva, saying he wasn't a "big fan of the improvement."

"Basically, you're getting the same road with a bike lane," he said. "It's not safe."

The San Vicente Road Improvement Project will keep the road's speed limit at 50 miles per hour and is designed for 55 miles per hour. All driveways that connect to the road have met speed requirements, according to Ron.

Board member Carl Hickman was somewhat wary of the project, saying that even though the speed limit will remain the same, the roads will be "safer," making drivers more likely to speed.

Hickman said that he understood that "we can't design roads for every condition."

Six-inch berms will be added to the side of each lane, helping with water run-off with the road project. Planning group member Scotty Ensign expressed concern over the size of the curbs, suggesting they be smaller to make more room for cars to pull over in case of emergencies.

"I'm dealing with the confinement of it," he said.

The improvement project doesn't call for emergency lanes and Hickman asked the DPW to look into design requirements, like 8-foot shoulders so cars can pull off.

The addition of emergency lanes would add to environmental cost, as more road would be intruding the surrounding habitat.

About 160 oak trees will have to be removed from the current stretch of road for this project. Though there are talks to send those trees to a wood shop class at Palomar College, planner Kevin Wallace said he doesn't like the idea of taking down the trees.

"Ramona is losing its character," Wallace said in regards to cutting down the oaks. "I personally never saw the need for a new road when we will have the same problems."

Wallace also voiced concerns for the traffic during construction of the new road.

Hickman and planning member Angus Tobiason asked for a different design of rumble strips that separate the lane. Right now, only one strip is planned. Tobiason wants double rumble strips and Hickman wants a 3-foot separation between the two lanes with the rumble strip design.

Overall, Hickman said the group "liked the project," and board member Torry Brean said "it's something Ramona needs."

Concerns over a left-hand turn lane arose, after the slides for the improvement project showed that such a lane cannot exist the whole 2.25-mile stretch of road, due to space issues.

The committee asked the DPW to review the issue and bring a "final product" back to the group in the near future.

The San Vicente Road Improvement Project is funded by Transportation Impact Fees and half-cent TransNet taxes. No funding comes from the state.

The environment impact report was adopted in 2011 and the start of construction for the widening and straightening of the road is slated for the fall of 2013.

Ron said the project should be finished in 2015.