Traffic Light Proposal for Mussey Grade Road Fails

A proposal to add a signal light at Highway 67 and Mussey Grade Road failed to get enough votes at the May 5 meeting of Ramona Community Planning Group.

Member Carl Hickman, a licensed traffic engineer, showed a PowerPoint presentation of suggestions for changes to the intersection of Highland Valley Road, Dye Road and Highway 67, which included installing a traffic light at nearby Mussey Grade Road.

The motion to approve the proposal failed to gather the necessary eight votes. There are 15 members on the advisory panel which reports to the county Board of Supervisors. Six members voted in favor, four against and Hickman abstained from the vote.

Member Matt Deskovick left the meeting in anger before the vote was taken. He had expressed his views against the proposal and was stopped from continuing to speak after the chairman,  Jim Piva, began to make his comments.

“I don’t see it as too big of a deal,” Deskovick said about the traffic congestion. “People who moved to Ramona knew about the traffic.”

Deskovick said he has lived in Ramona since there were no traffic lights at the Highland Valley intersection and Dye Road did not connect to the highway in its current location.

“Why do you want to make a freeway out of Ramona? “ Deskovick asked.

Hickman explained that the changes to the intersection would be necessary in the future when more development comes in on the north side of the highway.

Hickman’s proposal called for more lanes, including longer left-turn lanes, at the Highland Valley and Dye roads intersection.  If the motion had passed, it would have been submitted to the County and CalTrans for approval.

Several Ramona residents and people who drive through town during peak traffic hours commented against the need for another traffic light.

“Mussey Grade Road is not the problem,” nearby resident Mark Hutton said. “This whole thing about Mussey Grade Road being the culprit I believe is completely wrong.”

Julie King is a San Diego Country Estates resident who works in downtown San Diego.

“I’m one of these commuters who’s on these roads every day,” King said. “It’s not worth another light to save three seconds. Ramona is a country town and most of us who live here want it to remain this way. Our lives are impacted by this every day. If we’re willing to sit there an extra three seconds every day, that doesn’t matter.”

Joe Minervini spoke out in favor of making changes at the intersections.

“Something’s got to be done,” he said. “We’re either going to get the old plan or the new plan. We’re going to get one or another. We know that. The old plan is insufficient. I go for the new plan.”

The new plan refers to including a signal light at Mussey Grade Road. The old plan covers adding more lanes to the Highland Valley and Dye roads intersection without the additional signal light.

In other business before the planning group, residents who live near the recently opened Cedar Creek trailhead in Ramona Oaks complained about the problems on weekends. They said hikers are parking in the residential neighborhood instead of the parking area, and some are littering the neighborhood. Some of the residents said they have had vandalism and break-ins at their homes and automobiles.

Sheriff’s Lt. Julie Sutton assured the residents she would assign more deputies to patrol the area.