Unsnarling the Ardath Triangle : La Jollans to Hear Solutions to Traffic Problem

In La Jolla, where almost everyone is a traffic expert, new solutions to a decades-old problem of traffic congestion will be unveiled next week. A sneak preview held recently indicated that the plans may draw more Bronx cheers than plaudits.

The problem: the Ardath Triangle, a junction of the main roads into the affluent seaside village and the scene of daily traffic snarls rivaling the worst in the city.

The solution: a plethora of plans for streamlining the jumble of major roads and streets that now come together in a nest of traffic signals.

From the idyllic days of the 1960s, when 14,000 or so cars a day whizzed through the intersection with ease, traffic has grown to 52,000 cars a day. Nowadays, a 15-minute wait surprises no one but a tourist.

Under a 1973 city plan that was shelved for lack of money and only lukewarm support, the Ardath Triangle would be unsnarled by building additional lanes for through traffic on Ardath Road into La Jolla on Torrey Pines Road with realignment of three other busy streets--North Torrey Pines Road to UC San Diego, La Jolla Shores Drive to Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Hidden Valley Road, a shortcut up Mount Soledad.

Today’s cost for that 14-year-old solution is $3.8 million, an amount that is just within the city’s improvement budget.

Solution Dated

Unfortunately, the problem is outgrowing the 1973 solution, city traffic engineers believe. However, they propose that this Model-A version be built now, then added to as the city comes up with the $18 million or more that the fancier versions will cost.

A year’s study of the traffic nightmare by a private consulting firm produced 13 variations on the 1973 theme, each more expensive than the last and all out of range of the city’s limited road construction budget. There are overpasses and underpasses, T-intersections and full interchanges, merging lanes, additional road width and, inevitably, traffic signals that halt some or all of the traffic through the Ardath Triangle.

At the pricey end of the continuum is a space-age design that threads the traffic from all the intersecting streets and roads into a split-level below-ground interchange where every motorist can get where he is going without waiting for traffic lights to change.

Designer Francisco Meir, the father of the free-flow interchange, has won some advocates among the La Jolla motoring crowd and a few backslaps from residents for his plan, according to David Ish, executive director of the La Jolla Town Council.

“It’s at grade and below grade, which means no view blockage,” which is considered important in La Jolla, where million-dollar houses often command billion-dollar views, and it would keep the perennial traffic snarl moving, Ish said.

However, most La Jollans haven’t had a look at the Meir proposal and those who have wonder just how city fire trucks stationed between North Torrey Pines Road and Ardath Road in the middle of the maze are going to negotiate the radical curves and grades of the Meir interchange design to get to a fire.

Consultant Suggested

Russ Crosby, deputy director of the city engineering department, recently advised City Council members to hire an outside firm to give the Meir proposal a once-over. Crosby wants the imposing model put through some down-to-earth tests for sign distances, soil conditions and cost.

Meir estimates his design could be built for $20 million; critics put the price closer to $60 million.

The debate is expected to shed some light and much heat on the issue when La Jollans get to view the designs and price tags of Ardath Triangle solutions at a La Jolla Shores Assn. meeting Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Sea Lodge, and again Thursday at 4 p.m. at the La Jolla Recreation Center for the La Jolla Town Council’s transportation committee.