La Serena Way “Road Diet” Safety Improvement Project

Location

La Serena Way between Margarita Road and Butterfield Stage Road

City or County Responsible for Project

City of Temecula

Author

Patrick Thomas

Organization

City of Temecula

Address

41000 Main Street, Temecula, CA 92590

Phone

951-694-6411

Project Description

The City of Temecula recently completed the installation of “Road Diet” improvements along La Serena Way between Margarita Road and Butterfield Stage Road. The goals of this project were to reduce vehicular speeds and enhance the safety of bicycles, pedestrians and vehicles traveling on the road. La Serena Way was previously configured as a four (4) lane Secondary Arterial road, providing direct access to several community parks and serving as the suggested route to school for Rancho Elementary School and Margarita Middle School. The “Road Diet” included modifying the four lane arterial to two lanes (one lane in each direction) along a two (2) mile length of roadway by installing the following striping improvements: a 14 foot wide painted median; 2-13 foot wide travel lanes; 2-6 foot wide Class 2 bike lanes; 2-6 foot wide bike lane buffers to separate vehicular traffic from bicyclists and pedestrians; an 8 foot parking lane at locations adjacent to parks and schools to accommodate on-street parking. This project also included operational improvements to traffic signal timing at the two signalized intersection along La Serena Way. Before and after speed surveys indicate the “Road Diet” improvements reduced vehicular speeds by 5-10 miles per hour, which will prompt a reduction of the 45 and 50 MPH posted speed limit to 40 MPH. Although initial concerns were raised about the reduction from 4 to 2 lanes, this project was deemed successful based on meeting the goal of reducing vehicular speeds with little or no impact on roadway congestion. The roadway is also much safer for bicyclist and completes a missing link in the Citywide Multi-Use Trails and Bikeways Master Plan.