Transportation Plan Needed For The Mid-Coast

by Councilman Scott Peters
March 2002

To grow or not to grow? That is the question that continues to be asked throughout San Diego by the media, academic and political leaders, and by San Diego residents over a cup of coffee. Despite years of unproductive and divisive debate over whether growth is good or not, we have grown, and according to the San Diego Association of Governments, we will continue to grow, like it or not. The projected growth of a million new San Diegans in the next 30 years will come largely from births in San Diego, not from people moving here. We can accommodate our children and grandchildren by implementing new and creative solutions that will address the impacts of this certain and inevitable growth or, in the alternative, we can do nothing, and experience worsening traffic congestion and decreased mobility, housing shortages, skyrocketing rents, and a significant decrease in environmental quality. We cannot, however, simply decide that we won't grow.

To help deal with this new growth, there are dozens of plans to build new roads and expand existing ones. This includes completing SR 56 by 2004, widening the I-5/805 merge to 24 lanes and accelerating completion of Vista Sorrento Parkway by 3 years. Unfortunately, and unbelievably, CalTrans' current plans still do not include direct connectors from SR 56 to Interstate 5! I will continue to fight to ensure that completion of SR 56 includes these connections that will keep highway traffic off of our surface streets.

It is no wonder that commuters and residents of Carmel Valley and other mid coast communities are skeptical about whether these roadway "improvements" will have a positive impact on their daily commutes. Even if we build all of the road projects currently scheduled for completion, our transportation system cannot effectively move our current population. It's become clear that we must look to transportation alternatives that will drastically improve our rapidly worsening mobility crisis.

Unfortunately, public transportation and transit planning continues to be an afterthought in San Diego. Currently, the only transit project planned north from Old Town is the "Mid-Coast Line," a 10.7-mile trolley line that will pass through UCSD and terminate at the UTC shopping center by 2015. At a cost of over $800 million, this system will travel an average of 31 miles per hour along I-5, a corridor that is already served by the existing Coaster, and will avoid key residential, employment and education facilities that would likely use transit. It is clear that the Mid-Coast Line will only provide a continuation of the same system that a transportation expert recently described to the City Council as "slow, infrequent, under-funded, indirect, and offers mostly a basic level of service." Clearly this is not the best we can do for $800 million.

First, we must abandon the current Mid-Coast Line in favor of "Transit First." This new strategy costs a fraction of the trolley while utilizing trolley-like vehicles or "flex-trolleys" that travel on tires on lanes and bridges dedicated to transit use. Imagine a new transit system that would provide attractive, safe and convenient trolley-like vehicles that would make frequent stops near the homes, shopping centers, schools and enhanced transit stations in Carmel Valley, Torrey Pines and Torrey Hills and deliver the commuter to their destination in a manner that is faster, more cost-effective and more pleasant than taking their automobiles. That is the goal of Transit First. And we can begin this project now in the heart of our region's primary employment and education center--UCSD, University City, Sorrento Mesa, and Sorrento Valley-- by using money already allocated for the Mid-Coast Line.

Second, we must rebuild our ineffective system of transportation planning. Specifically, we must merge the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, which is responsible for transit planning in the southern part of our county, and the North County Transit District, which is responsible for transit planning in the northern part. Unfortunately, much of District 1, including Carmel Valley, Torrey Hills and Torrey Pines, is located on the boundaries of these two agencies, resulting in a virtual black hole of transportation planning and available transit alternatives for these neighborhoods. We are one region and we need one surface transportation agency to address our transportation needs.

Finally, we have to be serious about adopting smart growth policies that will link future development to that transportation system. The City of Villages is one smart growth concept that could work since, in theory, it makes sense to densify around a transportation system that links the "villages" of our region. But the City of Villages will remain just a theory without real solutions to traffic congestion, and the only way to retain our quality of life is to grow around a transportation system that works. Ultimately, the heart of any growth plan must be a transportation plan.