City Hall, First Floor
201 North Broadway
Escondido, CA 92025
Phone: 760-839-4595
Fax: 760-839-4597
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00a.m.-5:00 p.m.
The goal of the Traffic Engineering staff is to ensure that traffic flows safely and efficiently on city streets. Traffic Engineering oversees the maintenance and improvement of the City's transportation infrastructure. City Staff works with the Transportation & Community Safety Commission, which acts as the approving authority on traffic and traffic safety related items and acts in an advisory capacity to the City Council.
You may contact us with questions or concerns, such as requests for red curbing, through the website via email @traffic.engineering@escondido.org, via phone@ 760-839-4595, or in person at City Hall. Our staff will review each request individually. If additional information is needed, someone will contact you. Requests are evaluated on a first-come, first-served basis, and our goal is to respond to all citizens within two to three weeks. We encourage your emails.
Transportation Impact Analysis Guidelines and Vehicle Miles Traveled Mitigation
All projects planned in the City are required to consider their traffic impact on the street system. The City updated their Transportation Impact Analysis Guidelines in 2021; in addition to the traditional Level of Service (LOS) analysis, this update contained guidance for measuring Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). In 2013, a new law (SB 743) was enacted which mandated projects that follow CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) must use VMT as the metric for measuring a Project's transportation impacts. Traditional LOS measures a project's impacts on nearby intersections, whereas VMT measures the total amount of driving induced by the Project.
In 2022, the City adopted the companion VMT Exchange Program, which established a program for helping Projects meet their VMT reduction goals by constructing capital improvements that encourage users to walk, bike or take transit in order to reduce their vehicular use.
Local Roadway Safety Plan (LRSP)
An
LRSP provides a framework for identification, analysis, and prioritization of roadway safety improvements on local roads. The LRSP was developed using the process outlined by Caltrans to provide a systematic approach to providing safety improvements. The plan is data driven, using a comprehensive analysis of five years of collision data for the years of 2016-2020. The collision analysis provides various citywide collision statistics, such as collisions per year; collisions involved with vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles, or property; types of injury collisions; and collision causes. The process results in a list of improvements and actions that address the areas of highest need, as supported by the data. The LRSP is also a requirement for eligibility to apply for Highway Safety Improvement Program funding; it was also amended to meet the action plan requirement for eligibility to apply for Safe Streets and Roadways for All program funding.
Traffic Signals
The City of Escondido maintains 155 city traffic signals, while the California State Department of Transportation maintains 22 signals located at freeway ramps and along State Highway 78 within City limits. City staff utilizes Transparity, a central computer-based system, to monitor and control all the City's traffic signals.
New Traffic Signals & Signal Modifications
The Traffic Engineering division regularly evaluates a number of intersections within the City to determine the need for future signalization or signal modification work, such as adding protected left-turn phasing. An initial list is created based on staff knowledge, Police Department input, Transportation and Community Safety Commission (TCSC) recommendations, and citizen feedback. An evaluation of this list utilizing Federal and State warrants determines the priority ranking of each intersection. Next, the list is reviewed and approved by TCSC and, subsequently, City Council. The Traffic Signal Priority List is then used to determine which projects will be funded from the current and future capital budgets. In this way, the City's limited funds can be allocated to areas of greatest need.
Traffic Signal Coordination
Approximately 75 signals are coordinated to work with adjacent signals by timing the beginning of the green signal phase at one signal to relate to the beginning of the green at the adjacent intersection. The City uses different coordination plans during the day to accommodate varying traffic flows. Timing plans are utilized during the morning peak hours, the mid-day peak, and the evening peak hours. Updated Traffic Signal Synchronization Program
Speed Limits
Engineering & Traffic Surveys are updated periodically (every 5, 7 or 10 years, depending upon specific criteria) to ensure the speed limits reflect current conditions. Surveys include measuring the speed of vehicles to determine the prevailing or 85th percentile speed. The 85th percentile speed (the speed at which 85% of drivers drive at or below) is often referred to as the critical speed; it is the primary speed that determines what drivers believe to be safe and reasonable. When determining speed limits, the California MUTCD gives guidance that states, "The speed limit should be established at the nearest 5 mph increment of the 85th-percentile speed of free-flowing traffic." The recommended speed limit is set considering the 85th percentile speed, accident rate, roadside conditions and other factors not readily apparent to a driver. The Transportation and Community Safety Commission considers data presented in the Engineering & Traffic Surveys to recommend speed limits that are adopted by the City Council.
Traffic Signs and Striping
Traffic Engineering oversees the design and installation of all traffic signs and pavement markings on the City's 300 miles of streets. All traffic signs and markings must conform to the requirements of the California Vehicle Code (CVC), the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CA-MUTCD), and Regional Standards.
If you would like to report a maintenance related concern, please use the Report-it link.