Coastal Leucadia, their Highway or our Mainstreet?
By J.P.
The Lou’s records, Pannikan, Calypso, Gold Coast shopping plaza, Robbie’s Roadhouse
and Vigilucci’s section of Leucadia has become really popular, which is a good
thing, but maybe it’s time to manage the traffic a little better. …

Another deadly accident in Leucadia resulting in the tragic death of a well liked local got me thinking about the state of Leucadia’s HWY101 corridor.

It’s called the Coast Highway so it’s a high speed highway for communting, right?

I’ve always viewed it as a route to cruise, not speed. You take the coast highway slowly, to enjoy the ride and enjoy the beach community.

Now it’s mostly just an alternative for when I-5 gets backed up.

Traffic is getting dodgy on the Leucadia 101 strip. The Pannikan is popular and has been the scene of big accidents before. I remember watching the Life Flight helicopter land there a few years ago.

The Lou’s records, Pannikan, Calypso, Gold Coast shopping plaza, Robbie’s Roadhouse and Vigilucci’s section of Leucadia has become really popular, which is a good thing, but maybe it’s time to manage the traffic a little better.

Now, the accident was a result of a dumbass teenager tearing down the coast highway way too fast (85 mph) in a vehicle that he couldn’t handle. (I’ve had several people tell me that they have yelled at this same kid for speeding many times).

But, maybe we should ban all left turns out of the Leucadia side streets and instead make a good series of U-Turn lanes say, every 1/4 mile.

In the one time I met councilman Jerome Stocks I inquired what he thought about stop signs in coastal Leucadia. He said the coast highway was indeed a highway and that Del Mar regretted the stop signs they put in.

As a hater of stop signs, I do agree. But I think one or two well placed stop signs at popular left turn streets may be a good idea (if you don’t like the NO left turn and U-turn idea that is).

In the one time I met Paul Ecke3 we talked about coast highway Leucadia and he said he liked the idea of making southbound Leucadia one lane with the other lane as a merging lane for wider sidewalks and better parking.

I like this idea, I think it would be good for all the small business and residents. Of course I’m not commuting south from Carlsbad (they really should just tough it out on I-5. You reap what you sow).

The coast highway is also our mainstreet in Leucadia. Since it is a one sided mainsteet it will never be like the downtown Encinitas mainsteet, but it can still be great.
You have to admit, this is not living up to it’s potential. And why does the NCTD have to ugly up our coast highway so bad. Plant some plants!

If we could somehow get NCTD to let us put in parking along the tracks and then we put in pedestrian crossings I think Leucadia would really flourish. Remember the John Severson book signing at that little surf shop on Grandview a couple of summers ago? There was no parking so people parked on the dirt by the tracks and crossed the highway on foot. The cops wasted no time in writing tickets and towing vehicles.

You can’t legislate knuckle headed behavior. The best infrastructure won’t stop a bad driver from making poor choices. But maybe it will help the overall flow of the town.