Plans are being developed to further implement the PB Pathways network of lower-vehicle side streets in the community, laying the groundwork for future traffic calming and mobility enhancements.

Pacific Beach Community Parking District is working on a PB Pathways enhancement proposal being advanced by beautifulPB, a grassroots nonprofit working to create a more sustainable, equitable, and beautiful Pacific Beach.

“Through a series of public outreach workshops and discussions, the (PB Parking) committee has created a proposal that is likely to be voted on in October,” said Ryan Stock, beautifulPB president, who is promoting PB Pathways Phase 3 further enhancing the existing PB Pathways street network. He is pitching the concept to community groups like PB’s parking board and planning group.

PB Pathways is a phased-in network of safe neighborhood routes encouraging people to walk, bike, scooter, or skate to their destinations along with traffic-calming measures and other features to improve safety. That is accomplished via projects like slow streets, community murals, PB Pathways signage, and climate-action advocacy promoting the lessening of the community’s carbon footprint.

Implementing PB Pathways is accomplished by creating pavement markers, signage, and road striping. The introduction of these improvements in PB dates back to February 2016, when bike lanes and street repaving came to Cass Street in North PB, eventually being extended south on Cass Street to Reed Avenue. Improvements continue as funding becomes available.

Stock noted PB Pathways is the mobility component of the PB EcoDistrict concept, which the community has been slowly working on implementing since 2013. Back then, several members of the American Institute of Architects’ sustainable design assessment team visited PB to collaborate with residents on ways to develop concepts for making the community more environmentally sustainable. SDAT members were invited by local stakeholders to offer expertise on how best to make the beach community greener, cleaner, and more economically lean.

“A major component of the EcoDistrict is how to get people to rely less on cars for transportation, to reduce congestion by supporting other modes of travel in PB,” said Stock. He added, “PB is such a perfect environment for active mobility, everything from walking to skating to riding your bike. We do see quite a lot of people riding bikes. But the percentage of the street infrastructure is far and away biased toward cars.”

PB Pathways Phase 1 laid out the original street network grid with wayfinding signage supporting it, while Phase 2 involved creating the slow streets shared mobility concept on Diamond Street. Phase 3 now involves fleshing out traffic calming and mobility enhancements started in Phases 1 and 2.

“With Phase 3, what we’re working on right now is consulting with the community,” noted Stock adding, “We’ve got a lot of problem intersections, and routes people don’t feel safe biking. We’re proposing design principles to be implemented once we find funding.”

Added Stock: We’re doing outreach to the community to make sure we’re reaching the widest audience possible, so we know where people feel unsafe on their streets. We want to ensure community buy-in for these mobility infrastructure improvements we propose to our community.”

PACIFIC BEACH COMMUNITY PARKING DISTRICT
The Pacific Beach Community Parking District was approved by the City Council in 2005 and was created to address parking availability and demand, budget for and implement transportation solutions, and identify mobility alternatives within Pacific Beach’s EcoDistrict principles of climate, resilience, and equity. A portion of the revenue from paid parking within the CPD may be used to implement solutions such as parking lots, parking structures, valet parking, and parking/transportation signage.
The CPD is overseen by the Parking Advisory Committee, a volunteer group of Pacific Beach residents and business owners. The committee includes representatives from DiscoverPB, Pacific Beach Town Council, beautifulPB, the Pacific Beach Planning Group, and four at-large neighborhood representatives. San Diego City staff works closely with these committee members to customize parking solutions for PB.

CPD GOALS
– Improve safety and access to Pacific Beach neighborhoods, destinations, and businesses, as well as mobility within, to, and from the community.
– Develop parking and transportation strategies in alignment with the Pacific Beach EcoDistrict principles that effectively serve the community as it grows into the future.
– Encourage multiple modes of transportation including walking, bikes, public transit, etc.

– Identify and generate sustainable revenue to support investments in the community and transportation infrastructure improvements.

PROPOSED ACTION ON PB PATHWAYS PHASE 3

– Add signs and decals along new Phase 3 routes.

– Replace missing/damaged decals along Phase 1 and 2 routes.

– Use signs and decals consistently along routes.

– Improve the visibility of decals by increasing size or adding mid-block decals.

– Explore eco-friendly paint alternatives.