Poway City Council approved the recently completed Midland Road safety improvements that cost the city $320,000 to install at their Feb. 4 meeting, and agreed to consider next year if more upgrades are needed.
The improvements included replacing existing warning signs with fluorescent yellow-green signs, installing rapid flashing beacon signs, and placing a speed sign between Norwalk Street and Putney Road.
The council awarded the contract to HMS Construction, Inc. last June after several residents of the neighborhood expressed concerns about speed and traffic safety in the area.
One of the vocal proponents of the safety improvements has been John Barton, who lives in the Poway Park Meadows condos at Midland and Edgemoor Street.
Barton addressed council at the Feb. 4 meeting to thank them, city staff and of the city’s Traffic Safety Committee for the improvements, which were originally estimated to cost $170,500.
Although Barton said he s the changes, he shared some ideas he said would make the road even safer. Among them would be lowering the speed limit on Midland south of Edgemoor to 25 miles per hour as it is on Midland north of Edgemoor. He also suggested adding speed cushions on Midland, particularly as an extra safety feature near Midland Elementary School.
Barton and his wife, Debbie, said traffic has increased in the past 15 years with more visitors frequenting Old Poway Park, stores, a barbecue restaurant, winery and brewery. They said they’ve also seen drivers speed on Midland going south into a 35 mph zone on their way to Poway Road.
“While I am encouraged by the new improvements, particularly north of Edgemoor, where the speed limit is 25 mph, the area immediately south of Edgemoor, in front of the elementary school, where the speed limit changes to 35 mph, is still one of grave concern,” Barton said a few days after the Feb. 4 council meeting.
Park Meadows homeowner Carole Martin said in October 2023 that safety improvements were needed after two traffic fatalities. In May 2022, a motorcyclist was struck and killed on the side of the road by a suspected intoxicated driver, Martin said.
Then in December 2022, Grace Uyeki, a Park Meadows resident and HOA board member, was struck and killed while walking her dog in the crosswalk at Midland and Edgemoor, she said.
When City Council unanimously approved the funding for the Midland Road street project on Oct. 17, 2023, they agreed to review the impacts of the improvements one year after the installation.
The assessment was recommended by former Council member Brian Pepin, who said he often walks and rides bikes with his children on Midland.
“There’s a reason why the middle section of Midland has no problem there,” Pepin said at the time. “This section has angled parking and a 25 mph speed limit, which is great, we’re not getting complaints about that. The street there is designed in a way in which people are alert, looking for cars backing out of angled parking, and they’re looking for kids darting out from between cars.
“I think if we could create more of that throughout Midland Road it would be a great improvement.”
Pepin offered ideas for additional improvements the council could consider in the future. These included adding angled parking between Edgemoor and Poinsettia Drive, adding bike lanes from Aubrey Street to Twin Peaks Road, and potentially adding a center median from Edgemoor south to Poway Road.
“A planted median would be an amazing improvement,” he told the other council at the time. “It would constrict the roadway and make people drive slower and safer, and make the neighborhood more enjoyable.”
Debbie Barton said when 126 signatures were collected on a petition asking the council for traffic calming measures on Midland, the advocates also asked that speeding issues be addressed from Edgemoor to Hilleary Place.
“I’m very grateful to the city for the action they have taken,” Barton said after the council accepted completion of the street improvements. “We still have a speeding problem, but this was a good step in the right direction.”
