Posted on July 16, 2025
SAN DIEGO — For decades, summertime near the beach was off limits for road and infrastructure projects in the City of San Diego. Why would they only work nine months out of the year on fixing roads, waterlines and electrical systems, in a word — tourists.
That is no longer the case.
“My direction city staff is lifting the construction moratorium during the summer months. This has been a decades-long policy that simply doesn’t work for San Diego any longer,” said Mayor Todd Gloria.
With budget deficits and gathering potholes, Mayor Gloria says speed outweighs commuter convenience in the beach areas, and the stop and go method of years past is an old way of thinking.
“It slows down projects and makes them more costly. Right now we need to speed up neighborhood improvements for less money, and this is one of the ways we can do that,” said Gloria.
In La Jolla, the news of year-round road work couldn’t come fast enough.
“Roads are so bad down here in La Jolla Shores, that as a resident, as someone who drives these roads on a daily basis and had issues with cars, I really don’t care about stopping anytime. Tourism or no tourism, we need to fix these roads — period,” said Yair Abed, a La Jolla resident.
The mayor says he understands why this moratorium was originally placed.
“There are impacts that come with construction, I am not unaware of that. I simply think that means if we get those jobs done fast, it’s better than letting them persist,” said Mayor Gloria.
Residents say for now, traffic or not, a smooth road at the end of the tunnel will be worth the traffic near the beach.
“Thank you political people, I don’t know why it took so long,” said a local La Jolla swimmer.
