{"id":185382,"date":"2025-08-29T19:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T19:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/185382\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T19:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T19:39:08","slug":"with-preliminary-torrey-pines-road-work-completed-guardrail-project-preps-for-next-phase-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/185382\/","title":{"rendered":"With preliminary Torrey Pines Road work completed, guardrail project preps for next phase \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the closure last week of the westbound right-turn lane and bike lane between Coast Walk and Prospect Place, drivers on La Jolla\u2019s Torrey Pines Road experienced greater traffic than usual.<\/p>\n

Now some fear this winter\u2019s project to replace a white concrete barrier there with a new metal guardrail will make traffic even worse, though city officials say that might not be the case.<\/p>\n

The temporary closure Aug. 18-22 was part of the design phase for the guardrail project. The work<\/a>, usually done between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., was completed as planned, San Diego city spokesman Tyler Becker told the La Jolla Light.<\/p>\n

Next up is replacing the K-rail barrier with a \u201cmore robust\u201d 350 feet of ST-75 bridge rail on the north side of Torrey Pines between Coast Walk and Prospect Place.<\/p>\n

City project manager Nazie Mansury said the aim is to begin construction in the winter and finish by next summer.<\/p>\n

\"AA project is planned to begin this winter to replace a K-rail barrier with a bridge rail on the north side of Torrey Pines Road between Coast Walk and Prospect Place in La Jolla. (Bing Maps and La Jolla Light)<\/p>\n

During the preliminary phase, city crews completed pothole work and confirmed the locations of underground utilities before doing \u201cother, minor activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to collect this information while the project is in design to \u2026 prevent any potential conflicts during the construction phase that might lead to delays,\u201d Becker told the Light.<\/p>\n

The results of the preliminary work \u201cwill help determine specifics of the project scope,\u201d Becker said, though he added that the previous plans remain in place.<\/p>\n

Several residents said their travel time into the heart of La Jolla lasted as much as 40 minutes during the preliminary phase.<\/p>\n

Resident Catharine Douglass pointed to the issue of safety, saying\u00a0\u201cthe traffic issues that this first closure caused \u2026 is a huge problem, not only for commuters but for emergency vehicles trying to pass through this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

La Jolla Shores resident Janie Emerson said the traffic last week gave a taste of what\u2019s to come. The construction, she said, could be \u201ca nightmare\u201d for tourists and residents alike \u2014 making it important to complete the project \u201cat lightning speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents and board members attending the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board\u2019s July meeting<\/a> spoke of the need to install a new guardrail but warned of the potential \u201chorrible\u201d effects on traffic, predicting \u201ca mess\u201d and \u201ca disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council President Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, told the Light that he acknowledges the inconveniences of the project but pointed to a key difference between the preliminary work and the upcoming construction.<\/p>\n

As of now, the plan features a phase of nighttime work in which the northern westbound traffic lane and its neighboring bike lane would be closed, according to the city. The area is to be cleared for vehicle use during the day, barring unforeseen circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The] pre-construction work was done during daylight hours and caused considerable disruption and congestion,\u201d LaCava said. \u201cThe actual construction, in contrast, will be done at night to avoid similar impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, this project will be challenging,\u201d he added.\u00a0\u201cOnce work begins, we ask for the public\u2019s patience as the city and contractor work to maximize safety and minimize congestion and disruption in delivering this critical safety improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initial work will not include impacts to the sidewalk, but when the sidewalk eventually is closed for construction, pedestrians will be directed to the southern eastbound side of Torrey Pines Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cA partial temporary protected pathway is proposed with pedestrian crossings of Torrey Pines Road at Prospect Place and the existing crosswalk between Amalfi Street and Princess Street,\u201d according to a city statement to the Light.<\/p>\n

The protected pathway will require closing the eastbound bike lane.<\/p>\n

The guardrail project is a long time coming.<\/p>\n

Its saga began in January 2018 when a car careened off Torrey Pines Road onto the adjacent hillside, landing in the yard of one of the Coast Walk houses below. Soon after, the K-rail was installed as a temporary protective measure.<\/p>\n

A year later, efforts began to find a more permanent solution. \u2666<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the closure last week of the westbound right-turn lane and bike lane between Coast Walk and Prospect…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3548,7354,19284,3549,3550,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-185382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-la-jolla","12":"tag-la-jolla-light","13":"tag-la-jolla-light-news","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-san-diego-county","16":"tag-sandiego","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115113752591090203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}