Let's be Safer Together, Carlsbad!

The City of Carlsbad uses the three Es of traffic safety -- education, engineering and enforcement -- to help ensure everyone uses local streets safely. Thanks to your support, it's working! Please continue to look out for one another, follow our safety tips and share your commitment publicly so others will do the same.

New e-bike laws

New e-bike laws are now in effect in Carlsbad. Here is what to expect: 

  • Anyone operating an e-bike must be at least 12 years old, as allowed by Assembly Bill 2234.
  • When a minor breaks the rules and creates an immediate or substantial public safety risk, their e-bike may be impounded. The minor must complete an in-person safety course to retrieve the e-bike, and a parent or guardian must be present when the e-bike is released. 
  • The Police Department can also impound e-motorcycles, which are not street legal. 
  • E-bikes are prohibited at Poinsettia and Pine Avenue Community Parks. 

Additionally, the city's previously existing laws have been updated to provide additional clarity on safe riding behavior, including:

  • Riders must go at a safe speed for the conditions, factoring in weather, whether pedestrians are present and how quickly other traffic is moving.
  • Riders under 18 years old must wear a properly fitted and fastened helmet.
  • Only e-bikes designed for passengers can carry more than one rider.

  • Parents are responsible for knowingly allowing their children to commit violations. 

E-bike chart with e-motorcycles

More information

E-bike laws overview
View the new ordinance  
Watch a recording of the City Council meeting 

Safety classes

Several organizations off bike and e-bike safety courses online: 

Barrio Traffic Circle project revised

Post Date:07/30/2025 10:09 PM

On Tuesday, the Carlsbad City Council voted to proceed with a revised plan that reduces the originally proposed five traffic circles in the Barrio to one.

The traffic circle will be located at the intersection of Pine Avenue and Harding Street and include public art. Additionally, staff will bring back options for alternative traffic calming measures to help reduce speeds and improve safety at other intersections in the Barrio for consideration at a future meeting in November 2025. Those could include stop signs, raised crosswalks and/or speed cushions. 

As approved, the project will:

  • Minimize parking impacts in the area. Seven parking spaces will be eliminated at the intersection of Pine Avenue and Harding Street, which is a decrease from 27 if the project had included all five traffic circles. Two of these spaces are no longer legal to park in due to the state’s new “daylighting law,” which restricts parking within 20 feet of most intersections. To offset the parking loss at the traffic circle intersection, staff identified 14 spaces in the nearby area that they expect to add by the end of August. This will result in a total net gain of seven parking spaces in the area.

  • Allow the city to retain $5 million in federal funding secured, to be split evenly between the traffic circle project and the separate Barrio Street Lighting project to help offset construction costs. 

  • Keep an enhanced crosswalk proposed at the intersection of Oak Avenue and Roosevelt Street. 

  • Any improvements needed for water and sewer utilities will be coordinated with the traffic calming work. 

The city is also looking at additional ways to add more on-street parking in the Barrio, including evaluating parallel parking spaces on wider streets that could be converted to diagonal parking. A total of 14 parking spaces are expected to be added by the end of next month by modifying red curbs, and additional analysis is underway. An additional 13 parking spaces are expected to be conceptually designed by the end of the year near the Madison Street and Chestnut Avenue intersection. 

Project background  

The concept for the Barrio Traffic Circles project was originally proposed in 2014 as part of the Village and Barrio Master Plan, with the overall goal of improving traffic safety and walkability.  

At its meeting on June 24, 2025, the City Council postponed a decision to award a construction contract for the Barrio Traffic Circles project, which included five traffic circles, given concerns about parking impacts and recent community feedback about traffic circles and roundabouts in Carlsbad. Instead, the City Council asked staff to bring the proposal back on July 29, 2025, and include traffic calming options ranging from no traffic circles, a hybrid option with at least one traffic circle and an option to keep all five as originally proposed. Additional community input was also gathered on the topic and provided for the City Council’s consideration. 

Next steps  

  • Staff will return to the City Council by November 2025 with a revised conceptual plan, cost estimate and timeline for one traffic circle with public art at the intersection of Pine Avenue and Harding Street and other traffic calming measures in the Barrio area, including utilities enhancements. 

  • The artist, Mario Torero, who was selected by a city public art advisory subcommittee in December 2024 to create the public art, will move forward with gathering community input to help shape the design concept. The concept will then be presented to the Arts Commission. 
     

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