The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved an all-way stop control for the Spring Valley intersection of Orville Street and Thayer Drive.
A 5-0 Board of Supervisors vote Sept. 11 approved the introduction and first reading of the ordinance and a 4-0 vote Sept. 25 with Greg Cox in Washington, D.C., approved the second reading and adoption.
The ordinance will take effect Oct. 25, although the county’s Department of Public Works may install the stop signs sooner.
Both roads are striped two-lane roadways with a double yellow centerline which prohibits passing. Both have a 24-foot travel width and a 36-foot road bed, and both are unclassified on the mobility element of the county’s general plan.
Orville Street has a posted 25 mph speed limit and Thayer Drive does not have a posted speed limit.
A traffic survey was taken at the intersection on Feb. 28, 2019. The 3,116 vehicles consisted of 999 eastbound, 929 westbound, 657 southbound and 531 northbound motorists.
The intersection had at least 50 vehicles in each direction between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. and between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. and at least 40 vehicles in each direction during multiple afternoon hourly periods.
The vehicle count does not include pedestrian traffic.
The intersection is located near STEAM Academy at La Presa, Kempton Street Library Academy and the Spring Valley branch library. Three collisions at the intersection occurred between the beginning of 2016 and the end of 2018 for a rate of 0.88 per million vehicle miles.
The statewide average for similar four-way intersections with stop controls but not all-way stops is 0.23 per million vehicle miles.
The Spring Valley Community Planning Group submitted a letter in support of an all-way stop at the intersection, and on June 14 the county’s Traffic Advisory Committee recommended an all-way stop control.
