VALLEY CENTER A rural highway intersection plagued by crashes may get one of the backcountry’s first roundabouts under a proposal being considered by state traffic engineers.
The three-way intersection at state Route 76 and Valley Center Road — roughly 1.5 miles north of Harrah’s Resort Southern California, — has a reputation as a traffic trouble spot. Between 2005 and 2009, there were 35 accidents at or near the site, four times higher than the statewide average, according to the California Department of Transportation.
More recent crash data wasn’t immediately available, Caltrans spokesman Hayden Manning said Friday, but the agency predicted in a report on the area that accident rates were expected to get worse as development in the backcountry grows.
For five years, Caltrans has been planning a $13 million overhaul of the intersection, and a roundabout is one of the key features under consideration. Construction money has been earmarked, and all that remains is deciding if the roundabout or a more traditional intersection with stop lights is the best way to move forward.
Motorists who frequently pass through the area agree the intersection needs to be improved and that cars turning left from Valley Center Road frequently drive in front of vehicles speeding on the state highway. But not everyone is convinced a roundabout is the answer.
“It’s going to cause a lot of accidents,” said Muhamed Kani, a clerk at the Stage Stop Market and Liquor store a hundred feet east of the intersection. “People will be coming down the highway at 65 or 70 miles an hour, and when it’s foggy they won’t be prepared to slow down for it. It gets foggy a lot in this area.”
Roundabout is a British word for a road junction in which vehicles move in one direction around a central island, with priority given to the vehicles already in the flow of the roundabout. The concept is that traffic is slowed but keeps flowing, minimizing accidents and still getting people where they want to go.
According to the Caltrans study, roundabouts can improve safety, decrease traffic congestion, improve air quality and reduce environmental impacts compared to signalized intersections.
About 70 roundabouts exist elsewhere in the state, but there is only one in the backcountry, Borrego Springs' Christmas Circle. Smaller versions have popped up over the years in communities including La Jolla, Carlsbad and Oceanside, and one is planned on South Santa Fe Avenue in Vista.
By the end of this year, Caltrans will have chosen a plan and will come back to the community to see how it sits with them.
Perhaps no one spends more time looking at the Valley Center intersection than Agustin Medellin, a young clerk at a fruit stand at the southeast corner of state Route 76 and Valley Center Road. He stares directly at the intersection from behind the counter.
For two years, he said, he’s seen a lot of near misses but never an accident.
“I think the problem with this intersection is people think it’s a three-way stop at all sides, so the people who are coming from Valley Center Road are always cutting people off. That’s pretty much the only problem.”
Medellin said he isn’t sure a roundabout is a good idea because people are already riding their brakes as they come down the hill from the east and may not expect to have to slow down even more.