The Downtown Community Planning Council voted to reject a city plan calling for the expansion of Grape Street near the San Diego International Airport from three lanes to four. The city plan also calls for adding a bike lane and eliminating 25-50 parking spaces on Grape Street.
The vote occurred at the DCPC’s monthly meeting on November 15, 2023. Earlier this month, the Little Italy Association also voted against the traffic renovation plan.
The suggested street alteration initially stemmed from a 2015 traffic study done in conjunction with a Downtown San Diego Mobility Plan.
“This proposal was approved without any community engagement,” says DCPC chair Manny Rodriquez. “It is now up to Mayor [Todd] Gloria and Councilmember [Stephen] Whitburn to stop this road expansion from inflicting pain on Little Italy’s residents and visitors.”
The mayor and the councilmember did not immediately respond to emails sent to their offices by The Sun.
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority has supported the lane addition to Grape Street. The airport is expanding Terminal 1 and officials expect increased traffic in the area after a first phase of expansion is completed in mid-2025.
City residents who spoke at the recent DCPC meeting were unanimously opposed to the Grape Street renovation. Residents repeatedly likened a four-lane version of the street to “a freeway” that would cut a dangerous swath through north and south Little Italy.
Discussion on the DCPC board focused on pedestrian and commuter safety as well as the need to accommodate visitors to the region who fly into the airport and spend billions of dollars in the local economy.
Grape Street is a one-way thoroughfare that flows in an eastward direction off of Harbor Drive away from the airport. It’s a primary route for commuters looking to access both north and south exits onto Interstate 5.
It was repeatedly mentioned by board members that the mobility study surmised that changing Grape Street to four lanes could decrease traffic delays at Grape and State streets by nearly 30 seconds. As well, the study reported the lane expansion could create a delay at Grape and Harbor Drive of up to a minute.
The net-sum result of those timing-related outcomes was debated. Other topics of conjecture discussed by the DCPC board:
- Does adding traffic lanes reduce traffic flow? Cause commuters to increase speed over posted limits? Reduce or cause more traffic accidents? Pedestrian accidents?
- If more traffic is coming due to the airport renovation, there needs to be accommodations on feeder roads.
- Does the proposal for greater access to the airport from Laurel Street nullify the need to expand Grape Street?
- Could increased Metropolitan Transit Service bus routes be increased to meet increased airport traffic?
- What’s the status of a proposed People Mover that would transport passengers from the downtown Santa Fe Depot to the airport?
- Is a bike lane necessary, and if it is, shouldn’t it go on the right side of the street instead of on the left, as proposed?
- The elimination of parking spaces on Grape has the possibility of negatively affecting businesses in Little Italy; and parking meters are also a source of revenue for the LIA. SDSun
