North County morning commute tougher than usual today
North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
A downed motorcycle and rider has made coastal southbound I-5 even slower
than usual this morning starting in Carlsbad and continuing through
Encinitas. …

NORTH COUNTY —- A motorcycle crash on southbound Interstate 5 and more congestion is making the morning commute more difficult this morning in north San Diego County.

A downed motorcycle and rider has made coastal southbound I-5 even slower than usual this morning starting in Carlsbad and continuing through Encinitas.

Other drivers stopped to help the biker after the crash in the left lanes about 6:15 a.m. south of Lomas Santa Fe Drive in Solana Beach, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Although the lanes were cleared at 7:05 a.m., a traffic alert remained in effect until normal commute speeds were reached.

That could take awhile, because drivers were braking to 3 mph starting at Palomar Airport Road in south Carlsbad. There wasn’t much improvement until Via de la Valle in Del Mar.

Inland, southbound Interstate 15 —- always a struggle through south Escondido —- was down to 4 mph at Valley Parkway.

The clogged traffic wasn’t approaching freeway speeds until Rancho Bernardo, and even then there were pockets of slowing farther south.

Eastbound Highway 78 was struggling through Vista, down to 15 mph at Vista Village Drive. The westbound side of the highway had the usual problems getting out of Escondido, then hit full speed to the coast.