As I recently wrote about, Balboa Park is a city treasure, enjoyed by locals and visitors alike. It is also home to many high-speed roads which greatly diminish the quality of the park, use large amounts of high-value land, and pose health dangers immediate (being crushed by a car) and long-term (developing asthma and other disease due to very poor air quality in San Diego). It is time to eliminate the most superfluous high-speed road in Balboa Park – Florida Drive.
This year is the 100th anniversary of Balboa Park and there would be no better way to celebrate that than by returning a significant portion of the park to it’s natural state. (Or at least we can offset the deletion of another canyon in Balboa Park by the San Diego Zoo that is currently approaching completion.) We can expand the size of the open park space, and the quality, by closing Florida Drive to automobile traffic. To avoid inconvenience to cars – which must be the first consideration for a conversation to even start – this would only be a closure of Florida Drive from Morley Field Drive to Zoo Place.
Area of Florida Drive to close to autos immediately
San Diego’s canyons are a tremendous asset for the city and residents. They are a tiny foothold for local flora and fauna in our beautiful and bio-diverse region. They provide an opportunity for our youth to experience the outdoors in their backyards, across the city. They show that we value nature, heritage, and the environment. They are well worth protecting and in this case, worth restoring.
Florida Drive mirrors Park Boulevard and a closure of this portion of Florida would have little to no impact on vehicle traffic. It certainly would not cause back-ups. At the same time, it would provide a peaceful setting for those enjoying the canyon and an expanded sanctuary for the snakes, lizards, birds, and other animals that call this area home. A park should be a park, not an extended Interstate on-ramp that is a park in name only.
How to proceed:
- Immediately install temporary concrete bollards blocking Florida Drive to automobile traffic at the Intersection of Morley Field Drive and Zoo Place.
- Monitor traffic counts on adjacent roadways to determine impact on traffic flows and overall safety for a 6-month period.
- Remove three-quarters of Florida Drive (East side) and replant with native trees which will flourish in the natural creek setting of the canyon bed. Convert remaining one-quarter to a two-way bike path and install a gravel running path on the West side of the pavement.
- Enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of a greatly improved piece of San Diego’s premier park, all done at little cost and with great benefit that will only increase in the coming years.
We can do this, and so much more to make our city better. All we have to do is choose to do so.
Beautiful trees and shrubs with many birds are found in Florida Canyon, but loud and dangerous cars diminish the area. (Photo: John P. Anderson)
Originally posted at JohnPatrickAnderson.com
John P. Anderson
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Great idea. After that we can get rid of the 163.
You gave me something to think about. I do agree that high speed traffic is a problem. I would like to see greater enforcement of speed laws. It seems to be that the police do not want to ticket the young military members that use that road daily. A concern I do have is what happens on Park Blvd. With traffic from City college, the zoo and Balboa park already stretching it to the limit what would closing Florida do to that problem. I have lived in the area 35 years and walk all over so I am aware of the problem. I admit i do not walk the paths I am afraid of snakes or that coyotes will try to get my dog. There is now a divider and trees planted at the area you wrote about. I need to keep thinking about this.
Maria,
Thanks for the comment. I agree with enforcement of speed limits and would add that in this area the speed limits need to be greatly reduced. At a minimum I would propose 25 MPH for Park Blvd, 35 for Pershing Drive and Florida Drive. I also concur about the pass for speeding given to military. Respecting and honoring those in the armed services is a good thing, but allowing very dangerous behavior is a disservice to all.
The divider and trees (very few trees, I think 6 and an 1,100 foot long large concrete divider) are further south on Florida Drive, between Bob Wilson Drive and Pershing Drive, for connecting to the military hospital. The area I am proposing closing is the north part of Florida Drive in Balboa Park – north of Zoo Place where many coming from the Interstate access the large zoo parking lots.
As for Park Boulevard – the vehicle back-ups on Park seem to me to typically be caused by cars entering and exiting the large parking lots at the zoo and Balboa Park. I would hope that reducing the speed limits (and in a pipe dream world reducing the amount of parking lots in Balboa Park to encourage other means of transport to access the park) would help with potential issues. As you note, there are a number of educational institutions on Park Blvd – City College, SD High, Roosevelt Middle School – and I’d love to see a slow and safe Park Blvd to allow students to arrive via bike, walk, bus, or whatever means without high speed traffic being a constant presence.
Sorry for the long-winded response and thanks again for reading and commenting.
Thank you for this suggestion. I want to see this happen as well. What do we need to do?
(It’s funny, I rarely drive that road anyhow, it’s too dangerous for pedestrians and definitely too dangerous for bikes. I am an alert drive and a runner, so I am always looking out for others but from living in this area for 35 years, I am the exception not the rule. Especially since the new thing in North Park and South Park is to run EVERY Stop sign unless there is a cop around.)
Have a good weekend
I’m with you, San Diego needs more park space.
Simple and beautiful. The Navy keeps the lower end for access to the hospital through that loop you describe, thus eliminating the biggest drawback. Part of the roadbed through the Northern end of the canyon could be retained, along with and easement through the Navy’s Loop for bicyclists to continue their trips to and from downtown.
The preserve at the Northern end of Florida Canyon might also remind us that we could get back some of the plateau on the east side along Pershing, where Park and Rec stores its vehicles. Parking Lots and freeways are not parks.
This will save money, prevent a lot of broken cyclists’s bones, and preserve some silence. This is the smartest fix I’ve heard since Filner closed the lots in Panama Plaza.
Thanks for the kind words Bob. The East Mesa parking lot issue is just terrible. Thanks for bringing attention to it and hopefully we will see a day with trees and shrubs across the mesa instead of parking for unused vehicles.
The parking lot that Parks and Recreation uses is on top of the old Arizona Street landfill. While I would really like to see the vehicles gone and the lot and fences gone, you cannot do much planting and or landscape irrigation in the area because of the landfill related issues. However it would be nice if the open space to the south of those parking lots could be increased.
Steve – there are definitely issues with the landfill but if we can go out of our way to build and expand a huge parking lot, I would think that some small shrubs or even just dirt running paths through empty space would not be an issue.
I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with this. As a local, I love having access to Florida to circumvent traffic from Balboa Park. It’s an easy way for me to cut from Hillcrest area over to South Park and Golden Hill. Having worked in the park, it’s difficult to navigate around the heavy traffic the park gets during peak tourist times and big events like December Nights. While it is always a great to have more park & open space, I just don’t see this as a benefit for the city. However, I like the thinking!
Sarah – thanks for the comment, even if we don’t agree on this issue. Have a great day!
Really, the only time Park Blvd. to Zoo Drive is busy is some summer weekends and rock n roll concert weekends and marathons. I’d use Pershing under those conditions. Like John Anderson wrote, we could have a major park improvement for virtually no money and very little inconvenience.
Sarah, I respectfully disagree. We need to think of the common good and benefit to all residents and how to make our city more beautiful. Park Blvd is always moving fast, except during major events. We don’t need another high-speed roadway through our beautiful park.
I agree wholeheartedly. This has been proposed in the past, but being San Diego…. If only Bob Filner hadn’t imploded. He was good with the vision thing.
I LOVE this idea! Could we just run down there with some bollards and see what happens? In fact, as I was driving along Florida the other day…I remembered a bunch of us trying to stop the Bob Wilson Street, baby carriages and all. We worked that issue for months and months and lost. Even though I use it to get to Balboa Park on the west side, it is superfluous. I’m in for some guerrilla blocking. The kid is 39, yikes!
This is good stuff. I know SANDAG has plans to improve Pershing as a bike-friendly corridor but now that you mention it, your Florida Dr. approach makes much more sense. It’s not such a steep grade and it would improve park access and use. It’s a win-win-win. As for those using Florida to circumnavigate Park Blvd., I ask you if it is worth it to keep Florida open to auto traffic for the few days out of the year you use it as such.
I like this idea a lot. I use all the routes in the area, and it’s hard to see any downsides to this. Pershing is there for people to get from the North Park/South Park area to the 5; most of the Balboa Naval Hospital traffic comes in from the 5; and with Morley Drive and Zoo Place still available, there are ample routes to the Zoo, etc. Anytime I’ve used the stretch of Florida Canyon between Morley Drive and Zoo Place, it’s been nearly empty…it’s handy once in a while, but the loss of it wouldn’t be a big deal.
On a side note – I’ve often thought it would be kinda cool to have a suspension foot bridge connecting the two sides of the park to facilitate walking/biking across Florida Canyon (anyone who’s biked from North Park to the Zoo side knows what I’m talking about).
SUSPENSION BRIDGE !!! I’d do work to get that in
place.
This is a great idea, and should be considered in a broader context of bringing both better pedestrian/bike access and wildlife/native plant habitat back to all of San Diego canyons. There is no reason we can’t connect all the central San Diego Canyons from South Park to the bay/Little Italy. Balboa Park could easily connect to Maple Canyon via the forthcoming, but yet not designed, Olive Street Park at Olive and Third.
Roy – thanks for the comment and certainly agree with connecting our canyons throughout SD. Canyonlands has that as an explicit goal and when we connect people to our canyons it goes a long way toward garnering support for further protections, improvements, and expansions. You note Maple Canyon and it’s a great example – I don’t think many know how enjoyable and accessible it is for a person to go from Banker’s Hill to Little Italy in the peace and quiet provided.
Yes! San Diego Canyonlands is a great organization that has already done great work towards this goal!
Thank you John! You could be a spokes person for the non-profit I’m managing…. San Diego Canyonlands!
Even before the centennial celebration funding fiasco I was thinking about this same opportunity to celebrate help Balboa Park’s huge birthday. This closure, from Morley Field Dr. to Zoo Place has been in the Balboa Park Master Plan for some time. People trying to reach South can just continue up Morley Field Drive to Upas and then take Pershing to 28th St. for South Park. I think most people living on Florida Drive wouldn’t mind the reduced traffic and speeders and would enjoy the new pathway to get downtown! There’s a lot of road kill with animals trying to get back and forth from east to west in Florida Canyon. I would do it almost exactly as John suggests although I’d put the wetlands expansion on the west side and the pathway on the east. There’s an existing natural riparian corridor on the west. As a resident of North Park I love the suspension Bridge idea. Maple Canyon has a bridge. We could link Maple Canyon in Bankers Hill all the way to Switzer Canyon in North Park with such a vision! That’s a City of Villages and canyons right there! Let’s ask Todd Gloria if he’s willing to champion this vision and our call to finally close this section and re-unite both sides of the amazing Florida Canyon!
Eric Bowlby, Executive Director, San Diego Canyonlands
John, thank you so much for writing this piece.
When I first moved to SD I was so looking forward to the park, but remember being floored by how much of it is paved?!
SD is such a beautiful place, home to so many unique trees, birds, and animals. What a refuge this would be, for they and humans alike.
Nathan – agreed. I worked Downtown by the bayfront and was (and still am) stunned how much of the area is surface level parking lots. Balboa Park in many areas is similar, lots of pavement and little park. Hopefully you can help in the effort to restore Florida Canyon as a starting point for future improvements. Thank you for reading.
Please don’t put a bike path on Florida Dr if you are also intending a pedestrian walk way…or keep them very separate. I have seen and been near way too many incidents of bikers endangering pedestrians and themselves near auto traffic. Car drivers break plenty of traffic laws, but bikers are some greater multiple of this. Torrey Pines SP doesn’t allow bikes in most of its paths now, so you should talk to them about problems with shared pedestrian / bike paths.
If you live in the Southwest part of Morley Field, and need to commute to downtown, this is going to make life much more difficult. I live near Morley Field drive and use it multiple times a day. Access to Park Blvd. , especially turning left onto Park becomes difficult and dangerous during the school commutes and traffic backs up daily on Morley Field drive during these times. Also during any Park festivals, which occur multiple times a year this road is heavily used. I use both Park Blvd. and Florida St. daily and I’m quite sure this would make the Drive down Park Blvd much more congested. Remember, there are only 3 North-South corridors; Florida, Pershing and Park. Closing one of them is going to significantly impact the others.
I completely understand the interest in more park space. I run and bike almost daily in the park and surrounding neighborhoods. The Florida Canyon part of the park is hardly used at all, except for people using the trails, and the road hardly has an impact on those users. From my experience I would have to say that I am not seeing a benefit that would outweigh the inconveniences.
Now a footbridge across Florida canyon is something I could really appreciate, I am getting to old for that hill. I’m also fine with reduced speed limits.
Again, I am sympathetic to the people who think this is a good idea, but it definitely has drawbacks for many of us. Please consider this.
Kevin, a simple and narrow bikepath through the entire reach of Florida St., including the Navy’s base, would solve all your problems. You wouldn’t have to use Park Blvd or Pershing, and with the roadbed shut down for cars you’d be a lot safer.
That would be perfect, I’m a local using the park, it will increase the amount of park without affecting much the traffic, and it’s cheap, have you thought to create a support group
I just looked at a map and I didn’t see any I-5 on-ramps from Park Blvd. If this is true, all the traffic North of the closure would take Upas to Jacaranda Place and cut through the Park to Pershing near Bird Park. I think installing gradual speed bumps on Florida Canyon makes more sense…
If you’re on Park Blvd and want downtown you simply stay on Park Blvd; it becomes 11th Ave.
Just south of Presidents Way on Park Blvd there is an on-ramp for I-5 South. 163 North can also be accessed in this area. To access I-5 North, it would required descending Zoo Place and accessing via Florida Drive and Pershing Drive. There are a number of other freeway access points to the North, East and West if one’s trip is not beginning at the intersection of Florida Drive and Morley Field Drive.