Caltrans: Freeway Stretch Where 2 Died Not Viewed as More Dangerous

The tragic freeway death of a Grossmont High School sophomore and his grandmother Dec. 9 has highlighted the stretch of La Mesa highway where the crash occurred.

But is state Route 125 near Interstate 8 especially dangerous?

The state Department of Transportation says no.

When Justin Foulds of Lemon Grove allegedly rammed his Chevy pickup truck into the traffic-slowed Nissan driven by Celia Torres with 16-year-old David Gonzalez as a passenger, it came in an area with fewer accidents than comparable freeway intersections, a Caltrans spokesman said Tuesday.

At the request of La Mesa Patch, Ed Cartagena of Caltrans reviewed accident data from state Route 125 a quarter-mile north and south of I-8 over a five-year period—Jan. 1, 2005, throug Dec. 31, 2009.

“There were fewer collisions on this highway segment during the five-year study period than compared to similar type of facilities in the state,” Cartagena said via email.

Including north- and southbound traffic on Route 125, he said, a total of 34 accidents occurred on this stretch in the study period—2005 had five accidents, 2006 had seven, 2007 six, 2008 seven and 2009 nine.

Southbound taffic—the direction Foulds was taking before the accident—accounted for 12 accidents in that period; 22 were northbound.

Responding to published concerns that Caltrans is aware of  “deficiencies” in a stretch of highway involving state Routes 125 and 94 in south La Mesa, Cartagena said: “A near-term project is being considered to improve the southbound SR 125 to eastbound SR 94 move by either building a south to east flyover connector or adding an additional turning lane at Spring Street.”

In a separate email exchange, La Mesa Deputy Fire Chief Greg McAlpine responded to an online report that accidents in this stretch of highway are so common that firefighters at Station 13 at 9110 Grossmont Blvd. often don’t wait for dispatchers to send them out.

McAlpine, one of three deputy chiefs in the Heartland Fire & Rescue agency, said:

I have talked to several of our firefighters at that station to see if any of them have made that comment or something similar. All the firefighters I spoke to said they have not talked to anyone or made any recent statements.

Having worked at that fire station during my career, I can say that if we heard what sounded like a vehicle accident on the freeway, we would investigate and respond knowing we would be dispatched anyway.

The frequency of that happening was not out of the ordinary given the station location. This is true of any fire station regardless of location; if the crews hear what sounds like an emergency incident has occurred, they will usually call it in to dispatch and respond on their own.