City Takes Steps to Improve Walkability

The City of Carlsbad Traffic Safety Commission received an update from city staff Monday on efforts to make the city more pedestrian friendly. 

The Pedestrian Master Plan, adopted in April 2009, lays out a blueprint for future development and improvements of the city’s sidewalks and walkways, with an eye toward supporting walking as an everyday method of transportation in Carlsbad.   The plan, which was developed with extensive community input, looked at all walkways and crosswalks within the city and spells out ways to make it safer for people to walk to their destinations, advises on how to make it easier for people of all ages and abilities to get around on foot, and recommends projects to make walking more convenient. 

Transportation engineers consult the plan to develop projects for pedestrians and to incorporate its recommendations on ongoing projects. John Maashoff, a city construction manager, noted, for example, that the Transportation Department recently installed seven handicapped ramps in the Alta Mira neighborhood in southwestern Carlsbad. The Pedestrian Master Plan calls for more handicapped ramps on city sidewalks. 

The also received a grant from the San Diego Regional Transportation Agency to install audible signals at 21 intersections throughout the city. These devices will provide a sound to guide visually impaired pedestrians across the intersection, and will include a readable countdown of the number seconds all pedestrians have to cross. Installing audible signals at intersections was a recommendation of the Pedestrian Master Plan. 

According to Maashoff, city transportation planners and engineers will continue to use the master plan to improve conditions for pedestrians where the community sees fit and budgets allow. The plan is one of several that spell out the city’s approach to facilities for the future.  The city also has master plans for water, drainage, sewage disposal, recycled water and bicycling, among others