Problem & Solution


On May 10, 2012, the Mission Hills Town Council voted to request that the City apply for the SANDAG Active Transportation Planning Grant to develop a strategy to increase pedestrian and bicycle access along Washington Street from Goldfinch Street to the Washington Street Trolley Station located just west of Kettner Boulevard. As you know, Washington Street is an important artery in and out of Mission Hills and Hillcrest for cars, bikes and pedestrians. However, it is a very dangerous thoroughfare with speeding vehicular traffic up and down the hill, cyclists running out of dedicated bike lane, and no actual sidewalk for pedestrians to use. Moreover, during winter storms the street transports an enormous amount of water runoff resulting in debris and pollution in the canyons and beyond.

The Mission Hills Town Council requests that the City apply for the SANDAG AT Planning grant to fund a planning study to evaluate widening the street that is adjacent to the drainage ditch (east of India Street and West of Ibis Street), adding a Class 1 bike lane with curbing, a permeable footpath for pedestrians, and bioswales planted with native plants and trees to capture and absorb urban runoff. Increasing on-street parking capacity in the Five Points District should also be taken into consideration.

The MHTC is building broad-based support within the community for this project among our community partners, including the Five Points CDC, the Western Slopes Community Association, the Mission Hills Parking Advisory Committee, the Mission Hills Business Improvement District and the Surfrider Foundation.

We believe that by implementing these improvements the community and its businesses will realize the following:

  • Increased patronage of businesses at the bottom and the top of the hill. (India and Goldfinch Streets)
  • More bike and pedestrian access resulting in increased parking availability
  • Decreased auto traffic and traffic accidents; decreased auto speeds
  • Increased access to the Washington Street public trolley
  • Decreased urban runoff; less impact to sewer flows; ground water re-charge; more economical cost, and less overall maintenance costs.
  • Revitalization of a very urban/traffic-centric corridor to more of a community feeling
All these result in a safer Mission Hills with higher walk scores and better living, and a change from a traffic-centric corridor to a more community feeling in keeping with our City of Villages plan. These are features our neighborhood and community deserves.

UPDATE: This project is funded!  Now we need to make sure all the features we want are included.  

http://walkthewash.blogspot.com/p/feature-requests.html




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