by Marinee Zavala
Work on the largest public transit project in San Diego history is already underway. In less than five years, South County residents will have easier access to stops along San Diego’s north coast.
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has committed $1 billion towards the Mid-Coast Trolley Extension, which will extend the existing Blue Line and connect riders from the San Ysidro International Border to stops along the north coast, including UCSD.
The project is expected to have an overall cost of $2.1 billion. Half will come from the $1 billion in federal funds, and the other half was garnered locally through revenues from TransNet, the local half-cent sales tax for transportation.
SANDAG Executive Director Gary Gallegos stated that this project is part of the San Diego Regional Plan, a huge investment planned for many years to address the nearly 20 percent population growth expected in the coming decades. SANDAG considers it an important project for the region, as it will connect people to areas where there are a lot of jobs, but which are currently not easily accessible by mass transit.
“The Mid-Coast Trolley will bring fast, reliable transit to the places where it’s most needed, including our largest research university and biggest employment center,” said SANDAG Chair and San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Ron Roberts.
Today, the thousands of South County residents who have to travel north to attend university, work, or get medical care, have to deal with a complicated commute that usually starts with the Trolley, getting off in Old Town, and then taking buses to get them the rest of the way, making the one-way trip take over an hour and a half.
Once the project is in operation, it is expected to save riders between 20-30 minutes, according to SANDAG. The 11-mile extension will add nine new stops, including Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, the VA Medical Center, the UC San Diego campus, and the dense residential and commercial areas along Genesee Avenue.
Once the project is built, it is estimated that it will provide more than 20,000 new transit trips every weekday. SANDAG told La Prensa San Diego that work has already started to make this project available as soon as possible to those who need it most.
“Work has already started after the signing of the Agreement this past September 14. We have also signed with the contractor, and they have already started relocating underground utilities out of the project alignment. It is an expensive, complicated process, and unfortunately will take 56 months to finish it,” added Gary Gallegos.
The route, slated to begin operations in early 2021, is expected to produce 14,000 new jobs during construction, as well as $116 million of annual economic impact on the region.