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Home My WebLink About2025-11-03; Traffic Safety and Mobility Commission; 04; Options for the Kelly Drive and Park Drive Complete Streets Improvements Project Meeting Date: Nov. 3, 2025 To: Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission Staff Contact: Tom Frank, Transportation Director/City Engineer tom.frank@carlsbadca.gov, 442-339-2766 Subject: Options for the Kelly Drive and Park Drive Complete Streets Improvements Project Recommended Actions Recommend to City Council to adopt a resolution directing City Manager to develop a Safe Routes to School Plan for Kelly Elementary School, which will outline near-term and long-term improvements. Background On June 17, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution Nos. 2025-144 and 2025-145, directing the City Manager to 1. Remove the existing traffic circles and implement all-way stop controls at the intersections of Kelly Drive with Hillside Drive and Park Drive, and 2. Develop alternative options for the Kelly Drive and Park Drive Complete Street Improvements Project, CIP No. 6075, that exclude roundabouts, for further City Council consideration. The removal of the traffic circles and installation of all-way stop controls were completed over the summer, before school resumed. Since then, staff have been monitoring traffic conditions and working closely with the Police, Fire Department and school administration to assess areas of concern and identify opportunities for improvement. Based on those observations, staff have developed two alternative options for City Council consideration, as summarized below. Discussion During the analysis of the options, staff identified two near-term measures that could help improve traffic operations during the Kelly Elementary drop-off and pick-up periods: 1. Restripe the existing striped median along the school’s frontage to discourage left turns from the school exit driveway to support the school’s access plan operations 2. Add approximately 170 feet of red curb (no parking) and install two “Right Turn Only” pavement legends within the southbound curbside queue lane to improve access to the school entrance and support the school’s access plan. TRAFFIC SAFETY & MOBILITY COMMISSION Nov. 3, 2025 Item #4 Page 1 of 5 Both of these recommended changes are supported by the Carlsbad Unified School District and the Principal at Kelly Elementary and are shown in Exhibit 2. The near-term improvements described above are proposed regardless of which future option is selected. Project Options The following options were analyzed to improve safety for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and other users. The options highlighted below focus on improvements along Kelly Drive from El Camino Real to Park Drive and along Park Drive from Kelly Drive to Neblina Drive. Option 1: Develop a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Plan The project area includes the neighborhood surrounding Kelly Elementary School, where congestion is common during school drop-off and pick-up times. One way the city has been improving traffic safety near schools is through the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. This initiative encourages walking and biking to school by enhancing safety and convenience through infrastructure upgrades, education, and community incentives. The program’s goals are to improve safety, reduce traffic congestion, and support a safer environment around schools. It also creates opportunities for city staff to collaborate with students, parents, school officials, and residents to develop a plan that reflects the needs of the surrounding community. Developing a SRTS plan for a specific school typically takes about a year, that includes assessing current conditions, engaging the community through public outreach, and identifying both near-term and long-term improvements. Once the improvements have been identified, staff will present the final SRTS plan to the City Council for review and consideration. Option 2: Proceed with Targeted Corridor Improvements Alternatively, the city could hold limited public meetings and proceed with the following improvements: • Relocate the mid-block crosswalk on Kelly Drive between Hillside Drive and Park Drive to a location south of the school exit driveway. This change will help reduce vehicle backup caused by pedestrians crossing at the current location. • Restripe the roadway in accordance with the city’s current standard operating procedures. • Implement a Class II bikeway along Park Drive between Kelly Drive and Neblina Drive to improve bicycle connectivity and safety. • Evaluate the feasibility of all-way stop control on Kelly Drive at the proposed new crosswalk location and school exit, and Park Drive at the intersections Neblina Drive, Valencia Avenue and Alondra Way per the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CA-MUTCD). • Assess the parking needs in front of Laguna Rivera Park and explore expanding parking into the northern portion of the park if determined to be feasible. • Evaluate traffic calming measures along Park Drive to improve safety and reduce speed. • Construct a Class I, shared pedestrian and bicycle pathway, on the south side of Park Drive from Kelly Drive to Neblina Drive Nov. 3, 2025 Item #4 Page 2 of 5 • Provide Class II (with door-zone buffers) bike lanes from Neblina Drive to transition to the existing Class II bike lanes north of Marina Drive. • Implement transitional striping at Park Drive and Neblina Drive to facilitate the transition between the Class I shared pathway and Class II bike lanes and sidewalks. Options Summary 1. Safe Routes to School Plan: Adopt a resolution directing the City Manager to proceed with a Safe Routes to School Plan for Kelly Elementary School. Pros • The project will be a collaborative effort among city staff, students, parents, school officials, and residents to develop a comprehensive plan that benefits all roadway users. Con • Specific improvements and preliminary cost of improvements will be outlined in the SRTS Plan, which will be available at a later date. 2. Targeted Corridor Improvements: Adopt a resolution to proceed directly with the targeted corridor improvements as outlined in Option 2 above. Pros • The public meetings and developing the project workplan can begin once the resolution is adopted • It will likely require a shorter project delivery timeline to address current operational concerns observed by city staff and school officials. Cons • The project will provide limited public engagement compared to Option 1. • May not fully address the broader community needs. Staff Recommendation: Recommend to City Council to adopt a resolution directing City Manager to develop a Safe Routes to School Plan for Kelly Elementary School, as a well-vetted plan developed through community engagement is more likely to earn broad public support and effectively address the school area’s long-term safety and mobility needs. Preliminary cost estimates will be prepared as the project advances through the planning and design phases, beginning at the conceptual (approximately 30%) design stage. Next Steps If City Council approves Option 1, staff will initiate the Safe Routes to School planning process and return to the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission and ultimately the City Council at a later date with the draft plan and recommended improvements for review and approval. Exhibits 1. Location map 2. Proposed Interim Improvements Concept Plan Nov. 3, 2025 Item #4 Page 3 of 5 EL CAMINO REA L TAMAR A C K AVE. P A R K DR. K E L L Y DR . NE B L I N A DR . CANNON RD. I N T E R S T A T E 5 HILLS I D E DR. R A I L R O A D AGUA HEDIONDALAGOON SITE SITE KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE COMPLETE STREET OPTIONS 6075 4 Exhibit 1 3 Nov. 3, 2025 Item #4 Page 4 of 5 Exhibit 2: Kelly Elementary Interim Improvements Concept Plan Exhibit 2 Nov. 3, 2025 Item #4 Page 5 of 5 From:Lynn Matella To:Traffic Subject:Option 2 Date:Friday, October 31, 2025 12:37:44 PM I live above Park on Vigilant Way and the traffic on Park is definitely going over the speed limit. We have lots of bicycles riding there as well. I would be in favor of anything thatwould slow traffic down. Lynn Matella Property Owner CAUTION: Do not open attachments or click on links unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. 1 Lovelynne Magalued From:Lovelynne.Magalued@carlsbadca.gov Subject:RE: Speeding on Kelly Dr. From: John Kim <John.Kim@carlsbadca.gov> Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 4:51 PM To: cclancy982@gmail.com Cc: Miriam Jim <Miriam.Jim@carlsbadca.gov>; Lovelynne Magalued <Lovelynne.Magalued@carlsbadca.gov>; Nathan Schmidt <Nathan.Schmidt@carlsbadca.gov>; Mariel Cairns <Mariel.Cairns@carlsbadca.gov>; Hossein Ajideh <Hossein.Ajideh@carlsbadca.gov>; Tom Frank <Tom.Frank@carlsbadca.gov>; Lindy Pham <Lindy.Pham@carlsbadca.gov>; Paz Gomez <Paz.Gomez@carlsbadca.gov> Subject: Re: Speeding on Kelly Dr. Ms. Clancy, Thank you for reaching out and for taking the time to share your concerns about traffic and safety conditions on Kelly Drive. You are correct that the city has conducted studies and developed design options for potential improvements along Kelly Drive in the past. These options were shared with the community through an outreach process and presented to the City Council for review. At its meeting on June 17, 2025, the Council directed staff to revisit the project and develop alternative options that exclude roundabouts for further consideration to better reflect industry practices and balance the needs for traffic safety, emergency response and enforcement efforts. Staff has been monitoring the traffic conditions on Kelly Drive since school resumed from the summer break and has been working with Kelly Elementary school officials to developed two options to move the project forward. This was presented to the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission on Nov. 3, 2025. The staff report and recommended action can be view here (Link). These options are scheduled to be presented to the City Council on Dec. 9th, 2025. Upon receiving approval from the City Council, staff will be moving forward with the project and conducting community outreach to get input from the public for any proposed improvements and to discuss the next steps. We’ll be happy to provide you an update once these public meetings are scheduled. In the meantime, I’ll forward your concerns to the Police Department for their awareness and enforcement efforts. Thanks again for contacting the city and please let me know if you have any questions. Traffic & Mobility Division Transportation Department Public Works Branch JOHN T. KIM, P.E., T.E. 2 City Traffic Engineer Traffic & Mobility Division City of Carlsbad 1635 Faraday Avenue Carlsbad CA 92008 (442) 339-2757 From: Catherine Clancy <cclancy982@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2025 1:45:56 PM To: Melanie Burkholder <melanie.burkholder@carlsbadca.gov> Subject: Speeding on Kelly Dr. Dear Ms. Burkholder, I'm a resident at 4819 Kelly Dr. I reached out to the traffic department recently because of the speeding problem on Kelly that has never been addressed. I just sent my response to Lindy Pham's email and cc'd the city council. I am extremely upset that the city had plans around five years ago to do something about the speeding problem on this street. Apparently all those plans evaporated. I want answers. I want to know why the city knows about how bad the speeding is on this street and still hasn't done anything about it. I'm not able to attend the upcoming city council meeting. How can I bring this up as a concern? I'm very angry because the city has let the residents on this street down. 3 We shouldn't have to keep living with speeding. It's not safe. The fact that speeding has been addressed on streets like Hillside but not Kelly makes me feel like ultimately, this city doesn't care about the residents on this street. I'm tired of this issue not being addressed in a timely way. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Catherine Clancy CAUTION: Do not open attachments or click on links unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Tom Frank, Transportation Director/City Engineer Nov. 3, 2025 Options for Kelly Drive and Park Drive Improvement Project 1 RECOMMENDED ACTION ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS 2 Recommend to City Council to adopt a resolution directing City Manager to develop a Safe Routes to School Plan for Kelly Elementary School, which will outline near-term and long-term improvements. 3 WORK COMPLETED TO DATE ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS 4 •Public workshops and input process •Preliminary design, permitting and construction documents ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS 5 1. Remove the existing traffic circles and implement all- way stop controls at the intersections of Kelly Drive with Hillside Drive and Park Drive, and 2. Develop alternative options for the Kelly Drive and Park Drive Complete Street Improvements Project, CIP No. 6075, that exclude roundabouts, for further City Council consideration. June 17, 2025 City Council Resolutions ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS 6 Near Term Measures 1.Restripe the existing striped median along the school’s frontage to discourage left turns from the school exit 2. Add approximately 170 feet of red curb (no parking) to establish a queue lane •Option 1: Develop a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Plan •Option 2: Proceed with Targeted Corridor Improvements 8 ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT OPTIONS OPTION 1 - SRTS •Goals are to improve safety, reduce traffic congestion, and support a safer environment around schools •Collaborate with students, parents, school officials, and residents to develop a plan that reflects the needs of the surrounding community 9 ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS OPTION 2 •Limited public meetings and proceed with the following improvements •Relocate the mid-block crosswalk •Restripe the roadway •Implement a Class II bikeway along Park Drive •Evaluate the feasibility of all-way stop control on Kelly Drive •Evaluate traffic calming measures along Park Drive •Construct a Class I, shared pedestrian and bicycle pathway, on the south side of Park Drive •Additional bike lane striping to improve connectivity 10 ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS RECOMMENDED ACTION ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS 11 Recommend to City Council to adopt a resolution directing City Manager to develop a Safe Routes to School Plan for Kelly Elementary School, which will outline near-term and long-term improvements. Staff will initiate the Safe Routes to School planning process and return to the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission and ultimately the City Council at a later date with the draft plan and recommended improvements 12 ITEM 4: KELLY DRIVE AND PARK DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS NEXT STEPS Thank You! 13