Not many people know traffic like Gary Halbert. That’s a good thing for Point Loma residents, because Halbert was recently appointed chair of the Rosecrans Corridor Mobility Study Project Working Group, an appointed consortium of community members charged with finding solutions to combat the traffic issues that so often plague Rosecrans Street. “The corridor has been analyzed many times in the past and there have been good ideas that have come out,” Halbert said. “Hopefully this effort will ultimately get additional funding and see some additional improvements in the area.” Halbert is currently planning and building director for the city of Chula Vista and serves as a member of the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB). He has almost 30 years of experience in city government, the first half of which was dedicated entirely to transportation. “I started my career with the city of San Diego and worked in traffic operations as my first professional position,” Halbert said. As a professional traffic engineer, Halbert has studied and examined a wide variety of transportation topics, including traffic operations, traffic signal timing, travel forecasting, travel developments and transportation demand management — encouraging people to use more efficient travel than single-occupant vehicles. Halbert has spent the second half of his career in land-development review, of which he said transportation is a huge component. He has a bachelor’s degree in systems science from University of California, San Diego and a master’s in public administration from San Diego State University. As chair of the Rosecrans Corridor Mobility Study Project Working Group, Halbert said he does not have any specific goals for the nine-month study, which began this month. Instead, he said he wants the working group to act as somewhat of a liaison between the community and the city. The working group will develop specific proposals and plans to be reviewed by the city and vetted by the community after the study ends early next year. According to city project manager Julio Fuentes, the goal of the study is to find a consensus alternative that everyone can support. “My desire is to help facilitate the public input as [this study] goes forward, not to try and put my own stamp on it,” Halbert said. The 11-member working group will meet regularly over the next nine months to come up with solutions to improve mobility and gridlock along Rosecrans. The study takes aim at improvements along the entirety of Rosecrans Street, from Taylor Street near Old Town to Kellogg Street near the former Naval Training Center, now known as Liberty Station. Halbert said residents can expect conceptual drawings for roadways and parkways, the identification of future capital projects and steps that can be taken in the short run to come out of the study. “This is a planning effort,” Halbert said. “What should be coming out of it is the plans for the city as it goes forward with the community plan update and to process what improvements should be identified so that when we can find funding we can more forward, providing the framework for the ultimate improvements.” Of the 11 members in the project working group, nine come from community organizations chosen by the city and District 2 councilmember Kevin Faulconer’s office. The group has one member apiece, as selected by members of their respective organizations, from Point Loma Association, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, Point Loma People for Progress, Peninsula Community Planning Board, La Playa Heritage Group, Old Town San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Old Town San Diego Planning Committee, North Bay Community Planning Group and North Bay Planning Advisory Committee. The other two members are at-large appointed by Faulconer’s office “This is an important group because Rosecrans is the backbone of the Peninsula as far as traffic,” Faulconer said at the group’s first meeting June 8. “This street is the lifeline of the Peninsula.” Although previous studies of the Rosecrans corridor have yielded small results, Halbert believes this mobility study is different. He said what makes this effort different is that it will focus on areas south of Nimitz Boulevard. Prior studies primarily focused on the north end of the street near Old Town. This more exhaustive study, he said, will examine how other streets impact the traffic on Rosecrans as well. The mobility study is the result of a $300,000 grant from Caltrans devoted specifically for this purpose. The city applied for the grant a year and a half ago and the money was granted with the stipulation that the study be a limited scope of Rosecrans Street, involve the community in the process and be completed by next January. For the purposes of the mobility study, Rosecrans corridor has been divided into four sections. Section one covers the Sports Arena/Midway area running from Taylor Street to Lytton Street. Section two runs from Lytton Street to Nimitz Boulevard. Section three covers the area from Nimitz Boulevard to Cañon Street, and section four runs from Cañon Street to Kellogg Street. The working group held its first meeting June 8 at the NTC Command Center. The two-hour meeting generated plenty of ideas and left Halbert with a sense of optimism for the coming months. “I felt that we had a very good first meeting,” Halbert said. “I’m very hopeful that we’ll continue to move forward and make progress and that we’ll end up with a plan that is truly representative of the full community’s wants and needs for the Rosecrans corridor.” During the meeting, working group members were introduced, and after a short introduction by Faulconer and an orientation, the working group broke off into smaller group discussions. Ideas flew, but a common theme was relatively consistent throughout the room. “One of the things that came out of each of the tables was the thought that a big part of the solution has got to be trying to make better use of the other facilities that are underutilized in the area,” Halbert said, referring to major thoroughfares like Nimitz Boulevard and Pacific Highway. The working group will meet on the third Monday of the month from 6:45 to 8:45 p.m. at the NTC Command Center, 2640 Historic Decatur Road at Liberty Station. The public is invited to attend and there will be limited chances for public participation, Halbert said. Members of the public can also contribute during three workshops that will be held during the study period. The first workshop will be held in mid-July and focus on identifying mobility issues within the Rosecrans corridor. The time, date and location for the workshop have not yet been determined. According to Fuentes, a website for the study will be announced at the workshop, during which residents will be able to review the project and submit comments.