Press Release

Sen. Blakespear, Local Leaders Call for Keeping Safety Features on Santa Fe Drive

Encinitas and regional leaders called to preserve core safety components of a $4.1 million, local and state-funded project outside a high school designed to make the road safer for pedestrians and cyclists amidst City Council consideration of removal

ENCINITAS – Sen. Catherine S. Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and local leaders joined together on Saturday to urge the Encinitas City Council to reject any proposal to remove core safety features along the recently completed $4.1 million western phase of the Santa Fe Drive Corridor Improvements Project.

The Santa Fe Drive Corridor Improvements Project was designed to address safety and circulation needs along a half-mile stretch of thoroughfare heavily used by students, faculty, and families at San Dieguito Academy High School, which serves 2,300 students, faculty and staff. The corridor and adjacent streets have been the site of multiple tragedies, including the death of 15-year-old Brodee Champlain Kingman in June 2023.

“I was thrilled when I was able get $3 million added to the state budget in 2023 to help pay for the majority of the western phase of the Santa Fe Drive Corridor Improvement Project, which was sorely needed to protect the safety of schoolchildren and improve our roadway for all users,” Sen. Blakespear said. “Now the City Council is considering tearing out key features of this project, which would be unsafe, costly and wasteful. That would be a terrible mistake.”

 The project included building barrier-protected bike lanes and walking paths, lowering the speed limit for vehicles, providing a dedicated bus pullout area, more parking and new curb and landscaping infrastructure. The changes have resulted in a slower corridor, and a more orderly flow of traffic for all involved along Santa Fe Drive. 

The project took many years of planning and construction, and funding from the state and city, to complete, and removing the improvements would be a waste of taxpayer money and city efforts, Sen. Blakespear said.

Sen. Blakespear gathered with local leaders in front of San Dieguito Academy to highlight their concerns. Also participating were:

  • Encinitas Deputy Mayor Joy Lyndes
  • Vista Councilmember Corinna Contreras
  • Emily Andrade, Member of the Encinitas Union School District Board
  • Michelle Horsley, President of San Dieguito Faculty Association
  • Troy Kingman, Father of Brodee Champlain-Kingman, a 15-year-old killed while riding his e-bike to San Dieguito Academy
  • Brad Lefkowits, Parents of Encinitas Union School District
  • Bill Shen, PTA Board Member School Site Councilmember
  • Jeremy Bloom, Chief Operating Officer of Circulate San Diego
  • Laura Keenan, Co-Founder of Families for Safe Streets San Diego    

 “Our Encinitas community continues to speak up to demand safe streets and traffic calming,” Encinitas Deputy Mayor Joy Lyndes said. “Santa Fe Drive is a great example of how a city can achieve this through traffic calming. Here we combine cars, pedestrians, bicycles and stormwater management and we improve the safety of this route to school. But this work is not complete yet. So we must complete this section, work with the community and school to improve how it functions and extend the sidewalks and bike lanes all the way to El Camion Real.”

"Students and staff being able to safely bike or walk to school should be the number one consideration guiding any discussion of change to the newly completed section of Santa Fe,” Horsley said. “The protected bike lanes, new crosswalk, and traffic calming measures in place now are a significant improvement to ensuring students and staff safety in this busy area of our community. As a resident of this very neighborhood, I know firsthand the impact construction has on the streets surrounding Santa Fe Drive. Over the past few years, I have watched as Bonita, Melba and Nardo – the streets surrounding SDA – were clogged with parents dropping off and picking up students, buses, bicyclists, walkers, local residents, and quite often, construction vehicles. There are three schools within a few blocks of each other.  This type of congestion yet again is an accident waiting to happen. As teachers, we make students our number one priority and we ask the Encinitas City Council to do the same."

"I'm speaking out as a parent of three young children,” Shen said. “Nothing is more important to me than their safety and security. Everyone, especially our children, deserves peace of mind while they walk, bike, or play here. Safe streets aren’t a nice-to-have luxury, they’re a basic responsibility we owe to every child and every parent in our community. I urge our city leaders to prioritize public safety as they review the changes that have been made here on Santa Fe Drive. I urge them to improve, not remove."

“Families for Safe Streets San Diego is made up of people who have lost loved ones—or survived crashes ourselves,” Keenan said. “Today we bring posters of our partners, children, and siblings who should still be with us. My husband, Matt, was killed while biking in San Diego, leaving me widowed and our baby without a father. The safety improvements on Santa Fe Drive use proven, widely accepted, data-backed tools to save lives. The concerns raised about inconvenience or perceived safety risks are not supported by data. Families for Safe Streets San Diego is urging the City Council to keep these life-saving improvements in place, because no one’s safety should depend on the convenience of others.”  

Sen. Catherine S. Blakespear represents Senate District 38, which covers northern San Diego County and part of southern Orange County. To learn more about the district and Sen. Blakespear, visit her Senate website.