Rancho Santa Fe Residents Win OK to Build Own Bypass Road

After 20 years of waiting for a highway to be built, Rancho Santa Fe residents Tuesday won the right to build it themselves.

County supervisors unanimously approved a plan to form an assessment district to finance construction of portions of Routes 728 and 680, creating an east-west highway through North County that would bypass Rancho Santa Fe to the south and east.

The board also voted a $150,000 subsidy to begin planning the road system and assessment district, which it is believed would be the first in which property owners would pay for improvements in another area.

Supervisor Brian Bilbray praised the Rancho Santa Fe Assn. for its plan, pointing out that community groups usually come to the county board with complaints and demands.

Rancho Santa Fe residents are willing to tax themselves to solve the traffic problems that cross-county commuters have brought to the affluent community and neighboring Fairbanks Ranch, Board Chairwoman Susan Golding said. She said the project, if approved by property owners, “will have a lot to do with preserving the quality of life in the area.”

About 21,000 cars a day drive the narrow streets of Rancho Santa Fe on the east-west trip between Interstate 15 and Interstate 5.

The proposed road system would connect with Del Dios Highway east of Rancho Santa Fe, allowing through traffic to avoid the narrow roads by detouring south of the San Dieguito River to routes south to San Diego and west to El Camino Real and I-5. The project would also include construction of a highway linking Rancho Bernardo Road and I-15 with the bypass route.

The project is expected to cost about $21 million and take about 60% of the traffic off Rancho Santa Fe streets.

At least 50% of property owners in the proposed 10,000-acre assessment district must approve the plan. Informal polls taken in Rancho Santa Fe and neighboring communities show overwhelming support for the plan, said Gail MacLeod, project consultant.

Plans for the east-west highways have been on the county agenda for more than 20 years, but building funds have not been available. Under the proposed assessment district, bonds would be sold to finance the construction of the system in about five years.