Fallbrook CPG asks county Public Works to review Gird/Laketree, Ammunition/Mission, Reche/Stage Coach intersections

The Fallbrook Community Planning Group has asked the San Diego County’s Department of Public Works to review three Fallbrook intersections.

Separate unanimous planning group votes Monday, March 15, asked the county to review the intersections of Gird Road and Laketree Drive, Ammunition Road and South Mission Road and Reche Road and Stage Coach Lane.

Potential solutions for the issues at Gird Road and Laketree Drive include review of the Gird Road speed limit and an all-way stop control.

“This is a great idea,” planning group member Tom Harrington, who works for the fire department and responds to calls for emergency medical service, said.

“The intersection has become more dangerous over the last couple of years. There’s increased traffic,” Laketree Drive resident Dolly Gibbs said.

Gibbs expects the opening of Monserate Winery to augment the existing traffic. In February 2020, the county’s Planning Commission approved a major use permit which allows Monserate Winery to have a tasting room and event facilities, and a traffic study determined an estimate of 1,237 daily trips with a Saturday evening peak hour volume of 232 trips.

The Fallbrook Golf Club which had been on that site before closing in 2016 generated approximately 1,157 trips. County staff determined that the winery and event center would not degrade the “C” level of service on Gird Road, and Monserate Winery contributions to the traffic impact fee fund will mitigate for the cumulative impacts.

The speed limit for all of Gird Road from state Route 76 to Reche Road has been 45 mph since 2018. Before the 2018 change, the speed limit was 50 mph between Highway 76 and 1,000 feet south of Oak Cliff Drive. A finding of an accident rate higher than the statewide average was made to allow the speed limit to be reduced to 45 mph when prevailing speed otherwise would have required a 50 mph speed limit.

December 2017 speed surveys produced 85th percentile speeds of 50.5 mph at 4,000 feet south of Reche Road and 51.8 mph at 1,700 feet south of Oak Cliff Drive.

A speed limit change would require a supporting speed survey. A speed limit change or an all-way stop control would require county Board of Supervisors approval, and the county’s Traffic Advisory Committee would review the proposed regulatory change and provide a recommendation to the board of supervisors.

At one time, Ammunition Road had two left turn lanes onto South Mission Road. The center lane on Ammunition Road has been changed to a straight traffic lane, so now all westbound Ammunition Road traffic, including traffic which had been traveling south on Main Avenue, seeking to travel south on South Mission Road must use a single left turn lane and during peak hours the drivers trying to turn left may block the intersection.

“The result is traffic congestion,” planning group chair Jack Wood said.

Because a traffic signal already exists at the intersection, it may be possible to create a three-way traffic signal which would allow vehicles in the center lane the option of turning left or going straight.

“There can be a better flow of traffic,” Wood said.

Before intersection improvements at Reche Road and Stage Coach Lane, northbound Stage Coach Lane traffic had a right turn pocket. The approach to the intersection was widened to allow individual turn lanes and to accommodate bicycle and pedestrian improvements, but the right turn pocket was removed during the intersection reconfiguration.

Traffic seeking to turn right onto Reche Road sometimes stops at the traffic light, especially if pedestrian traffic is crossing Reche Road, which inhibits through traffic. In some cases, drivers seeking to make a right turn use the shoulder of Stage Coach Lane.

“This creates congestion,” Wood said. “It’s a real dangerous condition.”

“Traffic patterns and populations have changed,” Roy Moosa, who chairs the planning group’s Circulation Committee, said.

The lack of a right turn pocket also reduces turning flexibility.

“It kind of pushes you into the cars that are going west on Reche,” planning group member Eileen Delaney said.

The planning group request is for the county to consider restoring the right turn pocket.

“I think they need to study the entire intersection,” Moosa said.

Wood cautioned that underground pipes along the intersection of Reche Road and Stage Coach Lane caused the reconstruction of that intersection to take approximately two years.

“It may not be a simple matter to do,” he said of reconfiguring the lanes.

If no regulatory change is involved, board of supervisors approval would only be needed to approve any right of way acquisition or construction expenditures needed to widen the road.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].