Marine View Drive Safety Improvements

Traffic, parking and pedestrian safety have been issues in Fauntleroy for more than a decade.   After a south-bound car swerved off Marine View Drive (MVD) 100 yards south of SW Roxbury seven years ago, and tumbled down the embankment into the house area below, FCA held a Traffic Issues Forum in November 2014.  There we agreed to invite our city council member and SDOT leaders to help us fix these long-standing issues. On January 23, 2015, Council Member Tom Rasmussen and SDOT Chief of Staff Bill LaBorde toured the Endolyne Triangle, Roxbury-Marine View Dr. intersection and Lincoln Park bus stop areas with Fauntleroy residents, including FCA President Mike Dey, Board members Martin Westerman and Deb Kerns, and several community members.  On the walk-about, we explained our on-the-ground concerns in these three areas, including unsafe pedestrian crossings, vehicle near-misses and accidents, and blocked traffic sight lines. On the walk-about, both CM Rasmussen and Mr. LaBorde judged that all the community’s requests were legitimate and merited action.  Mr. Laborde said SDOT could begin the work of making Fauntleroy’s desired changes when the weather got drier that spring.  These changes included:

• S.W. Marine View Dr. intersection at S.W. Roxbury:
  • SDOT agreed to repair and extend the guardrail on the west side of the roadway, completed a survey, and installation,
  • Mirror across from intersection:  east-bound drivers on Roxbury coming to the stop sign cannot see to the south because of the bank at the SW corner, and MVD roadway curve to the west.  The only way to correct that would be to move a half mile of MVD to the east — no possible.  SDOT’s Jim Curtin promised to advise on steps FCA and neighbors could take, but did not follow through.  So FCA devised a simpler solution — mount a convex mirror across the street that drivers and pedestrians could use to spot vehicles coming from the south.  FCA board members Gordon Wiehler installed this safety improvement
• Endolyne Triangle area:
  • Triangle:
    • for decades, cars heading downhill (west) on Wildwood-Barton had three options — turn up 42nd, turn down Brace Pt., or continue to the 45th SW intersection.  Cars and pedestrians coming eastward up Brace Pt. and Wildwood had to guess which choice oncoming traffic would make.  Many of those drivers did not signal their intentions, which led to many near misses and some accidents at the east (pointed) end of the Triangle,
    • FCA requested that SDOT convert the two-way section of S.W. Brace Pt., between 45th Ave. S.W. and S.W. Wildwood, to one way headed east, and convert the west-bound lane to angle parking,
    • in 2016, SDOT completed the changes: (1) extending the Triangle eastern point with red street paint, (2) creating parking and loading zone areas with red street paint, and (3) gifting our community with planter boxes to beautify the area
  • north of Endolyne Joe’s parking lot:
    • to improve sight line to the north for drivers at the S.W. Brace Pt. intersection with 45th Ave. SW, FCA asked SDOT to eliminate two or three parking spaces just north of the Endolyne Joe’s parking lot, on west side of 45th  Ave. S.W.
    • SDOT replaced two parking spaces with a “bicycle corral,” containing racks for three bikes, in 2016
  • California Ave S.W. intersection with S.W. Brace Pt./S.W. Barton:  to improve sight line to the west, and thereby driver safety, FCA asked SDOT to eliminate one or two parking spaces on the south side of the street.  SDOT completed this change in 2016
• Fauntleroy Way S.W. at mid-Lincoln Park:
  • pedestrian signals:
    • Since 2005, FCA has requested that SDOT install a Fauntleroy crosswalk and/or pedestrian light at either SW Austin – where most people cross Fauntleroy to reach the Lincoln Park wading pool, picnic shelters and north baseball diamond, or at S.W. Rose St. – where pedestrians cross to access C Line bus stops and Lincoln Park.  Instead, in spring of 2007,  SDOT’s chief traffic engineer, Dongho Chang approved SDOT installing a pedestrian-activated crossing light at SW Kenyon
    • During the 2016 walk-about, FCA members again requested that SDOT (a) add the Austin signal, and (b) move the Kenyon signal to S.W. Rose for safe crossing between C Line bus stops.  SDOT has not delivered on those FCA requests
    • Placing the light at Kenyon did not “pulse” traffic, as Mr. Chang, claimed, nor change human crossing behavior into Lincoln Park at Austin, or at SW Rose.
    • SDOT told FCA that its standard for placing a pedestrian crosswalk or traffic signal requires (a) 20 pedestrian crossings per hour and (b) a busy street.  Fauntleroy qualifies as “busy,” and to test the standard, several FCA members counted crossing and traffic volumes in 2019.  They found that crossings at Rose outnumbered crossings at Kenyon by 16-20 to 1.  This has not moved SDOT.
  • curb cuts at corners:
    • The SW Monroe, Austin, Kenyon St., Kenyon Pl., and Webster corners feature standard-height curbs.  The FCA asserted that ramps are needed to accommodate bicyclists, strollers, wheelchairs and pedestrians,
    • FCA requested the SDOT install curb cuts in 2019, and we are now in SDOT queue for installing them.  They will probably be installed in the next five years.