San Diegans, and most people who fly here, have experienced the congestion and chaos that is Grape Street. Many have spoken up about it and now the Downtown Community Planning Council is releasing some improvements.
James Hackett said he’s a San Diegan to his core.
“I’ve been here my whole life,” he said.
He’s been working at the Waterfront Bar and Grill off Grape Street and Kettner Boulevard for more than 8 years. So, you can imagine how often he deals with messy traffic.
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“Backed up traffic from the airport, especially the right two lanes coming out,” he said. “Sometimes you can experience aggressive driving around there because people are frustrated.”
He also said the chaos leads to a lot of safety concerns, not only for drives but for pedestrians, too.
“Sometimes the walking situation can be a little crazy. There are a lot of homeless folks down here and sometimes they’ll take advantage of walking through the middle of the intersection and it’s kind of dangerous,” he said.
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Hackett said improvements to Grape Street are needed and could help more than just him and the Waterfront.
“It’s all street parking. We could probably get a little bit more business if people had a place to park,” he said.
During an October board meeting for the Downtown Community Planning Council, the airport authority presented their proposed changes to streets in Little Italy, including Grape Street.
“We could potentially add an extra lane to get off of [state Route] 163, since there are so many people that go to there,” he said.
The Airport Authority is implementing changes to Grape Street at the request of the city of San Diego, consistent with the city of San Diego’s Downtown Mobility Plan. It’s a mitigation measure identified in the Airport Development Plan. The changes include removing parking on both sides of the street and replacing it with a travel lane for vehicles on the south side. It also includes a bike lane on the north side.
“I would like a 4th driving lane. I think that would help, especially since the other lane goes to the 5,” he said.
Hackett said those changes could help ease congestion and also bring in more customers.
“At the end of the day, Little Italy is that, a residential area. There’s not a whole lot of parking, so people don’t like to leave,” he said. “I think that would help.”
Airport leaders said these changes were included in the city’s Downtown Mobility Plan, approved in 2016. The changes are scheduled to be completed close to the opening of the new Terminal 1 in late summer 2025.
