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Progress Finally Made on Dangerous Intersection

After so many years of fatalities, crashes, property damage, and frayed nerves, progress is finally being made to improve the dangerous intersection at Park Blvd. Normal Street and El Cajon Blvd. for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers.

In June 2025, the Mayor and City Council approved $600,000 for a traffic study of this deadly intersection to determine the best way to make it safer. The mayor’s office is also seeking grant monies from other sources.

The city has made some improvements to the intersection over the last several years, but it has continued to be unsafe. In 2023, Josh Gilliland, a bartender at Cheers Bar, was killed by a motorist as he walked across the crosswalk at El Cajon and Park Blvd. Cars have veered off the road four times in just the past couple of years and crashed into the temporary dog park in front of the historic Teachers Training Annex.

Thanks to the efforts of local community leaders, the city is taking a closer look at this intersection to find a better, more lasting solution for improving it. In 2024, the Public Project Committee of Uptown Community Planning Group began advocating to the city for a traffic study of the intersection to determine the best solution for making it safer.

Matt Driver, Chair of the Public Project Committee, joined with Anar Salayev, Vice-Chair of the Public Project Committee and Executive Director of BikeSD, and Bill Ellig, Board member of Uptown Planners and the University Heights Community Association (UHCA), to create an advocacy strategy.

The group encouraged residents at meetings and on social media to submit a Traffic Service Request to the City regarding the intersection. Letters of support for a traffic study of the intersection were obtained from both the Uptown Community Planning Group and the North Park Planning Committee and submitted to Mayor Todd Gloria, Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, and the City Transportation Department. Additional letters of support were also sent by the UHCA, School Board trustee Richard Barerra, Assembly Member Chris Ward, and others.

Councilmember Whitburn collected over 1,300 signatures in an online petition to “Stand Up for Safety” at the intersection. On May 12th, a press conference was held to publicize the need for improvements to the intersection with Councilmember Whitburn, School Board Member Richard Barrera, UHCA, and others in attendance.

After the press conference, Councilmember Whitburn worked with other council members to add $600,000 to the 2026 budget for the traffic study. The budget was approved on June 21.

A special thanks to Mayor Gloria, Councilmember Whitburn, Assembly Member Ward, School Board Trustee Richard Barrera, BikeSD, Uptown Community Planning Group, North Park Planning Committee, and UHCA for their support.