(MIRA MESA) KGTV — A Mira Mesa advisory bike lane that caught residents on Gold Coast Drive by surprise cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.
The bike lane first appeared early April, confusing people who lived there. It was painted back to its original state a couple weeks later with city leaders---including Mayor Todd Gloria—apologizing for the lack of communication.
Team 10 requested public records for the project’s total cost. The city returned 16 pages of invoices and dollar amounts.
A transportation department spokesperson said the total cost of the project and fixing it cost was more than $68,000. According to the city, the initial project for the bike advisory lane cost $18,880.29 to slurry the street and $7,469 to stripe the street.
To redo Gold Coast Drive, a document dated May 12 shows the re-slurry and striping cost $42,301.37.
Team 10 also received invoices that appeared to bring the total higher, but a city spokesperson said the invoices may be redundant.
Here is a link to the invoices.
When Team 10 asked if the city can ensure the lack of communication with Gold Coast does not happen moving forward, Mayor Gloria said, “That’s our goal.”
“That’s the expectation I set with city staff. They understand I wasn’t happy with how Gold Coast played out,” Gloria said.
He said city staff has improved outreach efforts on various street projects since the Gold Coast project.
According to city documents, the bike lanes have been talked about since 2018 with the invitation to bid on the project. While Mayor Gloria regrets neighbors not being informed, he does not regret the project itself.
“I understand bike lanes can be controversial. That is not a reason not to install a bike lane. Why we undid gold coast is we didn't follow our process,” Gloria said. “We should have informed the community. We should have advised them of what was coming.”
The City released a list of potential locations to stripe advisory bike lanes. They include:
-Pacific Beach Dr. from Lamont St to Morrel St.
-Cypress Canyon Park Dr. from Cypress Wood Dr. to the City Boundary
-Historic Decatur from Roosevelt Rd. to Truxton Rd.
-Evergreen St. from Canon Rd. to Nimitz Bl.
-4 Diamond St. from Jewell St. to Lamont St.
-Date St. between Granada Ave. and Dale St.
-27th St from Coronado Av and Grove Av
-Gold Coast Dr. from Parkdale Ave. to Empress Ave.
-Valeta St. from Famosa Blvd. to Worden St.
-Pacific Hwy (Frontage Rd.) from W. Washington St. to P Hwy NB Ramp
-Alabama St. from Upas St. to Wight
The city emphasized that this is a draft list and “not an official guiding document on where ABLs [will] be installed.”
Staff in charge of public records said, “There are currently no plans to place ABLs anywhere in the City of San Diego and this draft is not reflective of future striping projects.”
