Can We Be More Careful Out There? UH Resident Speaks out About Traffic Danger Near Vermont Bridge
I have lived on Hayes Ave. for nearly 15 years, and the only way to access our beautiful part of the neighborhood (which ultimately dead ends at the hillside over the freeways) is via Lincoln Avenue or Maryland Street. The main route in and out of the area is Lincoln Avenue, which connects to Washington Street, Hillcrest and beyond.
Almost every single day, when I’m driving home, I enter the neighborhood from Washington Street onto Lincoln Avenue. One short block after getting onto Lincoln is its intersection with Maryland Street. As many already know, people often speed way too fast down Maryland, to get to Lincoln, most ultimately heading to the 163 on-ramp, just around the corner. The speed issue is hazard number one.
Beyond that, cars coming down Maryland often approach the Lincoln intersection at too high a speed and stop way beyond the stop line on Maryland at Lincoln, pulling far onto Lincoln before making their turn. Traffic coming west on Lincoln, approaching this intersection, does not have a stop, but this causes many situations where oncoming traffic from Lincoln has near misses with cars that should be stopped on Maryland waiting their turn.
It also seems to me that for some reason, people who are about to make a left turn from Maryland onto Lincoln, seem to only look to the right before making their left turn, when they really should be looking left (and both ways!) but for some reason never notice the oncoming traffic. It’s an accident waiting to happen. Not to mention the many pedestrians and bicyclists who cross here en route to the Vermont Street Bridge, and the Sunday Hillcrest Farmers Market crowd.
I am asking—begging—neighbors who come down Maryland Street to get to the freeway or Washington Street to please slow down! When you get to the stop sign at Lincoln, please come to a complete stop and look both ways before making your turn onto Lincoln.
Editor’s Note: The traffic situation at Lincoln/Washington has been a recurring news item reported in UH News for over 20 years. After the article above was published, numerous updates from meetings followed in 2005 into early 2006, along with multiple neighbors writing in, demands to remove the light altogether, and complaints to Councilmember Toni Atkin’s office ultimately leading to a traffic engineering study and timing adjustments to the stop lights.
This issue was not resolved, and came up again in an update from UHCA President Bernie Horan in April 2014:
“Numerous residents have come forward to comment about traffic, parking, and other related issues as they pertain to various areas in UH. The intersection at Lincoln Ave. and Washington St. is of particular concern. We’ll need the cooperation of the city as well as the state to help rectify that problem since it includes the on-ramp to 163.”
And again in September 2015 in an article by Bridget MacConnel:
“In late June, several UH residents met with a City of San Diego traffic engineer to study the situation at the Lincoln/Washington light.
It was an eye opening experience for the engineer. The domino effect of change presents them with some real issues, such as a potential increase in t-boning accidents when drivers run red lights to make it onto the Highway 163 ... it turns out that Lincoln and Washington is listed as one having the highest accident rates in the city. After watching the madness for about a half hour, it was decided to add eight seconds to the light changes that allow cars coming from the corner of Lincoln Ave and Washington St) to continue onto 163.
The engineer says he has been studying the light for quite a while and knows the problems and frustrations and is very willing to do what is feasible.”
As you can see, some of the problems we face today have been problems for decades. With the ever-increasing density of residents - and traffic - attempting to enter 163 from Washington, the problem will only continue to increase without a comprehensive solution from cooperation between the City, SANDAG, and Caltrans.
UHCA will continue to forcefully advocate for real improvements to safety for all of us – pedestrians, cars, pets, and bikes.