Oceanside CA— The California Coastal Commission (CCC) has given its approval to move forward with the Coast Hwy traffic calming pilot project. Earlier in the year, the CCC received a complaint about the project from a local resident and stopped the City of Oceanside from moving forward on the plan.
In a letter dated March 17, 2016, Toni Ross, Coastal Program Analyst with the commission, wrote, “the commission concurs that potential impacts to public access and other coastal resources have been eliminated and the City may move forward with the project at this time, and no additional review by the Coastal Commission is required at this time.”
“This is great news,” said Deputy Mayor Chuck Lowery. “We can move forward with this project and begin to analyze the effect of traffic calming on Coast Highway. We will also be able to look at improving and increasing bicycle access throughout the city.”
The traffic calming measures include the re-striping of a half mile stretch Coast Highway, south of Oceanside Blvd, from two lanes each direction to one lane each way and widening the bike lanes.
An estimate of when the re-striping of Coast Hwy was not given, but the City expects to begin work on the project very shortly.