SANDAG rolls out 2007 plan: $58B package calls for car-pool, toll lanes on Interstates 5 and 15, Highway 78
By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | ∞
SAN DIEGO ---- The county's 300-mile freeway system would undergo an extreme makeover of sorts, with dozens of new car-pool and toll lanes, under a $58 billion blueprint for road and rail improvements put out for public review Friday.
Car-pool lanes would go from being a rare feature on the system to a dominant one under the San Diego Association of Governments' draft 2007 regional transportation plan.
In North County, Highway 78 could get its first car-pool lanes and a new "rapid bus" service could debut on El Camino Real.
A final version of the inch-thick document detailing the plan is expected to be adopted by the association's board in November. The plan can be viewed online at www.sandag.org/2007rtp.
Mike Hix, a principal planner with the association, said there are 13 miles of car-pool lanes in San Diego County now. If everything in the plan is given the green light by the board and built on time, there will be 143 miles of car-pool lanes in 2030.
Hix said 83 of those 143 miles would double as toll lanes, in structurally separated roadways like the one under construction on Interstate 15.
"The system improvements are not just about adding capacity, but about adding choices," he said.
Besides delivering congestion relief to those stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the main freeway lanes, the association is aiming to entice many to carpool or take the bus by building a system that makes those modes of travel as fast or faster than travel by car.
'Not good enough'
However, in some cases the plan won't make the commute better. Instead, planners said, it will only prevent conditions from getting a lot worse.
According to the plan's computer models, solo commuters' trips would be longer in 2030 than they are now in the corridors between Escondido and downtown San Diego, between El Cajon and downtown, and between Chula Vista and Sorrento Valley.
In each of the cases, however, the plan asserts that trips would get a lot worse ---- quite a big longer ---- without improvements.
"That's not good enough," said board member Phil Monroe, a councilman from Coronado. "We told people when they voted for TransNet that they would be getting congestion relief."
One of the region's primary sources of transportation funding, TransNet is a half-cent countywide sales tax. County residents voted in November 2004 to extend the measure, which was due to expire next year, until 2048.
Much of the makeover in the works would take place in North County.
A pair of car-pool lanes would be added to Highway 78 between Interstates 5 and 15. Highway 78 is North County's primary east-west artery, connecting inland communities with Oceanside and Carlsbad and serving as a gateway to the mountain and desert backcountry.
North County's major north-south arteries also would get face lifts.
The association proposes building four car-pool lanes on Interstate 5 between Highway 56 and Oceanside. The agency also intends to build four toll lanes each on I-5 north of Highway 76 to the Orange County line and on I-15 north of Highway 78 to the Riverside County line.
"There are very few general-purpose lanes on any corridor in the plan," Hix said.
$17 billion in new funding
There are some exceptions. Lanes that all drivers use would be added on Highway 52 between Santee and Interstate 805, and on Highway 67 between Ramona and Santee, Hix said. And he noted that the proposal to add regular lanes to Highway 76 between Oceanside and I-15 is on the list of projects.
When it comes to public transit, the plan envisions a "rapid bus" service running the length of El Camino Real.
Like the express buses in use today, the service likely would bypass some bus stops to speed up travel times, planners say. In addition to that, special lanes would be added to allow buses to squeeze around stalled automobile traffic. And special traffic signals would let buses go through while forcing cars to wait for them to get down the road. The exact details would have to be worked out with the local bus operator, the North County Transit District.
The plan is built around $41 billion the agency is counting on collecting from federal, state and local sources over the next two-plus decades and $17 billion in new money.
Hix said $12 billion of that new money would come from new taxes and fees, such as an increase in sales or gasoline taxes. He said the association likely will wait until after the plan is adopted to determine which sources to pursue.
The search for additional funds was triggered in April by the disclosure that the buying power of the half-cent sales tax was being eroded by soaring land and highway-construction costs, and that Highway 78 widening was in jeopardy. To rescue that project and others, the association proposed adding $10 billion that would be split evenly between freeways and transit.
Better travel times for ride sharers
The board decided at a meeting in late April to press for another $2 billion to boost accounts for local streets and roads.
The board also decided in April to shoot for $3 billion through tolls to finance the new lanes north of Oceanside and Escondido on Interstates 5 and 15, and for $2 billion from state and federal grants and truck tolls to fund international-trade corridors leading into the county from Mexico.
All that money would buy improved travel times for some commuters, according to the draft plan.
For example, people who carpool from Escondido to downtown San Diego in the morning would find trip times improving from an average 66 minutes today to 55 minutes in 2030, the plan states. Similarly, bus trip times would decline from 65 minutes to 53.
However, solo drivers between Escondido and San Diego would watch commutes go from 67 minutes to 76 minutes, the plan estimates.
On the coast, solo commute times would improve. The trip from Oceanside to downtown San Diego would shrink slightly, from 76 minutes to 70.
As for car-pool trips down I-5, those would improve significantly, from the current average of 69 minutes to 48 minutes, the plan states. The typical transit trip would go from 93 minutes to 77.
Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.
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They just don't Get it wrote on Jun 22, 2007 11:50 PM:Most people in San Diego can't car pool or use public transportation, because the nature of their work and other commitments is too variable. Why is SANDAG wedded to a 20th century, industrial, transportation model?
I'm listening wrote on Jun 23, 2007 1:51 AM:To "They just don't Get it": What do you propose? Not to sound rude, but with a $58 Billion budget, they must be getting something. Are we maintaining an outdated status quo?
Old Caltrans Engineer wrote on Jun 23, 2007 2:15 AM:"SANDAG is wedded to the 20th century, industrial, transportation model" because federal laws for Air Quality Maintenance Areas forbid the addition of freeway lanes if the use of new lanes are forecasted to degrade air quality. The computer models used by transportation professions can show that carpool lanes do not lead to degraded air quality. I personally feel that carpool lanes are a bunch of hooey.
BOB wrote on Jun 23, 2007 5:11 AM:SANDAG is the problem. Since its creation in the early 60's, their goal has been economic development at all costs. SANDAG is fueling over population, over development, and a diminishing quality of Life in San Diego County
Up the Ying-Yang wrote on Jun 23, 2007 7:27 AM:By the time this plan is implemented, the growth will have outstripped the added capacity. Status quo, bumper to bumper traffic, with reign once again and the Average Joe will be stuck in traffic. Meanwhile, the toll road users will get valet service while their companies (most likely, the only ones who will be able to afford it) will pick up the tab for the toll and let Average Joe subsidize it through tax deductions. What a great and equitable plan! The gap between the haves and the have-nots just keeps getting bigger and bigger!
58 Billion wasted wrote on Jun 23, 2007 7:44 AM:I'd rather see more light rail rapid transit projects similar to the trolley service throughout north county. The coaster rail service should also be expanded to transport Riverside County residents from SD Santa Fe to a Metrolink station in Riverside so that the cross-county traffic could be reduced. Make mass transit more convenient!
Bob2 wrote on Jun 23, 2007 7:50 AM:For ALL of that money ALL I get is an improvement of 6 minutes and that is still 23 years away????? Just give me my share of the money and I will move!!!
THANK YOU up the yin-yang wrote on Jun 23, 2007 7:52 AM:you could not have put it more perfectly. When will people realize that we are being suckered here. HAving to pay for it to be built but then charged again to use it. I think not! People need to wake up and realize they are being taken for a ride.
Choo-choo wrote on Jun 23, 2007 7:54 AM:More mass transit and less roads are clearly the future. The coaster is a start, let's build an inland line to service Escondido, San Marcos... More Sprinters types too.... That is the FUTURE, freeways are the PAST!!!!
Simon says: wrote on Jun 23, 2007 8:15 AM: It would be good to know if SANDAG has taken in to account in their plans the following factors: The lack of water in the county in the future, the unacceptable increases in population, the stalled traffic due to construction, and the pollution caused by stalled or bumper-to-bumper traffic. I will not be driving in 2030 - very likely not in 2020. So, I think I will increase my efforts to clean up the air I breathe, to assure that we have potable water other than in a bottle off the supermarket shelf, and that we are not over populated. The waiting time for a bus in polluted air will be a problem for the older folks. I for one will be reluctant to give up my car where I can have some cleaned air. Ironically, increases in population leads to more air polluting cars, use of water, and the need for more and better highways. I visualize rationing of water and gasoline in the future and not too long from now, maybe ten years. One might say that our efforts are a day late and a breath and drink too short.
oldtransit rider wrote on Jun 23, 2007 8:53 AM:SANDAG HAS NEVER "GOT IT" SMART GROWTH IS THEIR BIG DEVELOPMENT BABY. STEVE PEACE ELECTRIC GURU OF SAN DIEGO MADE SANDAG SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT WITHOUT CONSIDERING THEIR LEVEL TO TRULY UNDERSTAND TRANSIT ISSUES OF ANY KIND. SAN DIEGO COUNTY IS A MESS AND I WOULD NOT VOTE FOR ANYTHING TO INCREASE THEIR SALARIES.
good comments wrote on Jun 23, 2007 9:07 AM:all these comments are right on. So true about the water shortages in our future and the already over=population. The "average joe" is way more intelligent than these so-called experts!!The "worker bees" are going to get screwed once again. All one can do is try to work as close to home as possible, I guess. It's a mess!!
Zoom wrote on Jun 23, 2007 9:23 AM:How about every vehicle with only one person in it entering San Diego County on a freeway and those entering a freeway on-ramp pays $5 to use that freeway, any vehicle with two or more pays $0. Restrict tractor trailers to 7PM to 5AM and 9AM to 2PM. Build a second way, not freeway, for local motorists to cross Lake Hodges. That will open up the freeways overnight. You are very welcome.
In The City wrote on Jun 23, 2007 10:00 AM:Why not add to the mass transit system in the city itself rather than the outlying areas? I think that most of the reason people don't carpool is that friends & neighbors work in different parts of the city so they drive down in different cars. If a better transit system was built within the city then people could carpool to parking areas well outside of the city and take the mass transit system into the city to their respective work places. Look at Boston, New York, Washington DC for example. They have trains that come in from outside of the city and a well built mass transit system inside the city to take people around.
Skip wrote on Jun 23, 2007 10:07 AM:Every day another 6,000 Illegal Aliens enter into the United States. Don't forget that they have a right to drive too. Our population is exploding, and all SanDag can do is propose some more carpool lanes.
Gary in Murrieta wrote on Jun 23, 2007 10:11 AM:I have been carpooling and vanpooling to San Diego for over 10 years now. As someone who uses the carpool lanes everyday, I can speak from personal experience that they are waste of time, and resources. MOST PEOPLE IN THE CARPOOL LANES ARE NOT CARPOOLING. Family members, cheaters, and Gardening trucks (business vehicles) should not be counted.
Mike wrote on Jun 23, 2007 10:14 AM:I live next to the 78, I can tell right now that a car pool lane will not work. There is too much traffic for that road. The average speed in the afternoon rush hour is slow! We need high speed trams.
TO SANDAG OFFICIALS wrote on Jun 23, 2007 10:35 AM:HERE'S A THOUGHT: WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GET YOUR AGGREGATE FOR THIS?????? ARE YOU PROPOSING TO USE THE LIBERTY QUARRY OVER IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY? How about digging that mine in San Diego where it BELONGS!
Stop voting for freeway taxes wrote on Jun 23, 2007 11:23 AM:This is yet another lesson to stop voting for freeway transportation bills. It's obvious they don't work. The construction causes more traffic delays than the end result provides in "time savings". Do you want to spend 5-10 years in a construction zone delayed by 20-30 minutes to "save" 6 minutes in the future. $58 billion could pay for the bullet train between North and South California that has effectively been killed. It could pay for a true rail system like Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) that runs at 70 MPH down the middle of freeways. Buses are a joke when they share the same roads. They are dirty, slow, and don't get you anywhere near your workplace.
ANOTHER BOONDOGGLE wrote on Jun 23, 2007 12:02 PM:This is pork barreling at it's worst. Yea, give those big contractors big dollar contracts good for umpteen more years to build more of what is now underused and abused. DAFFY DUCK, where are you? We need you DAFFY! DAFFY
ANOTHER BOONDOGGLE wrote on Jun 23, 2007 12:08 PM:Here we go again. Big bucks for big contractors who give mucho bucks to politicians as "campaign contributions," also know as bribes. This is pork barreling at its worst! Build more of what is now underused and abused and let the masses trying to commute fend for themselves. DAFFY DUCK is in charge. DAFFY says "let's build more and more urban sprawl from here to the Arizona border and all points. Then let's worry about how all those folks will commute. Excellent.
Cheaters abound wrote on Jun 23, 2007 12:13 PM:I'm with Gary on the carpool lanes. Yesterday evening as I was going northbound on I-5, 20-25% of the cars in the carpool lanes appeared to have just one occupant. If enforcement doesn't ramp up, the cheating will. By the way, the traffic in the carpool lane was also stop and go, so the benefit was negligible.
More Proof we are NOT part of USA wrote on Jun 23, 2007 12:17 PM:For years ther have been border check points on I-5 and I-15 headeing north out of San Diego County. Now SANDAG proposes to put in Toll Roads along I-5 and I-15 heading north out of San Diego County. Just goes to show you that we in San Diego County are the Bastard Children of CA and the US! What Country do we belong to anyway: Not Mexico, got to go through Border Check Points there too!
Oceanside Chris wrote on Jun 23, 2007 12:22 PM:A billion here, and a billion there ... pretty soon it'll add up to more boon doggle spent to solve something that is ten years too late. Where is my flying car?
jake wrote on Jun 23, 2007 12:23 PM:The good news is that all of those illegal aliens which are coming across the border in cars and trucks filled beyond capacity with human cargo can at least use the car pool lanes!! At least they will be able to get to where they are going!!
To Choo-Choo wrote on Jun 23, 2007 12:25 PM:An 19th Century technology, Trains, are the Future???? Freeways, developed in CA in the mid 1950's are out??? I guess you are one of those that thinks everybody (but you of course) should go back to living in mud or straw huts! There is NO better place in the World to live than the good old USA, when you factor in all the stanards of living. So, what do you want us to do: return to the ways of those in the Horn of Africa?
no toll roads! wrote on Jun 23, 2007 1:37 PM:we are paying our taxes as it is.
To Zoom wrote on Jun 23, 2007 5:13 PM:I am an older lady, live alone, and have limited income. YOU want to charge ME $5 to use a freeway that I've already paid taxes for? You're nuts.
To I'm Listening and SANDAG wrote on Jun 23, 2007 6:32 PM:Deliver more of what people want and actually use. Roads. More general purpose lanes on the freeways, and more thoroughfares between towns. A big part of our problem is that you have to take freeways to get between most towns, since the towns have done a bad job of connecting their road networks. Let the price of oil take care of the air quality issue. People will adopt hybrids and biodiesels before these roads or rail projects are built. Besides, rail, when you factor in the environmental cost of the construction and land, per passenger, destroys more than a freeway. If we want to look to the future: High speed Internet to every home, and lots of telecommuter centers/executive suites. That would cost a lot less per person served than this waste of cash and space. Public transit, especially rail, is a 19th century solution to a 20th century problem: lots of people going from the same place to the same place, at the same time. San Diegans go from a variety of places to a variety of places, and then go to other places during the day and after work. Public transportation doesn't work, and Carpool lanes waste capacity, mostly on moms with kids and construction workers, who wouldn't be adding cars anyway.
Build suburbia, this is what you're stuck with. wrote on Jun 23, 2007 7:06 PM:Seriously. In suburbia you've got one road that everyone has to use, and everyone's trying to use it at the same time to go to the same place because nothing is built where it should be. You can't walk anywhere, and even most places are beyond a reasonable driving distance. Whose idea was it to put all the houses in North County and all the jobs in Sorrento Valley? Why not a mix? I really hope whoever came up with that stupid idea gets to sit in traffic every day with the mess they helped make; they deserve it more than anyone.
Ralph S. wrote on Jun 23, 2007 9:00 PM:What a joke, does anyone at SANDAG have a brain? If you add car pool and toll lanes, what have you accomplished for the ordinary commuter? Nothing!! We have been promised and have already paid for lanes on the 76 which were never added. SANDAG is a big dollar give away to that good old boy network of highway contractors. The best thing for San Diego is to vote SANDAG out of being.
Travis wrote on Jun 23, 2007 11:23 PM:San Diego County population is growing at less than half the rate of the USA as a whole: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06073.html SD County population only grew 0.75% per year from 2000 to 2006. Also, as a general trend, the air in SD County is not getting worse, and in many cases has gotten significantly cleaner: http://www.arb.ca.gov/adam/welcome.html
prv8eye wrote on Jun 24, 2007 7:42 AM:I'm no socialist but, If "public" transportation were free or cheaper MANY, many more people would use it. The cost would be offset by tax money saved on road construction, maintenance, law enforcement and hospital costs for those injured by drunk drivers. Would be nice to see some other SANDAG option than the standard "more taxes and fees".
Walt wrote on Jun 24, 2007 8:55 PM:For those whose comments propose building our way out of congestion with mass transit investment, please submit a specific plan to show it is best use of limited funds. Some items to consider; That's been the objective under TransNet for nearly 20 years, and near 40% of funds diverted to transit havn't raised its share above 2%. Using historic road use measurements and projection for another 25 or so years, every year the growth alone in daily road travel exceeds the TOTAL travel on mass transit.Thus the equivalent of a complete new mass transit system every year.For over 20 years Texas Transportation Institute has been keeping transportation records, San Diego's travel growth has increased 120%. Despite expenditures above, mass transit's share of this growth is 1.3%. Include in the report how long and how much money will it take to build our way out with mass transit so congestion starts to be relieved as promised in 2004.
pix wrote on Jul 2, 2007 1:38 PM:here's a thought: how about subsidizing a comprehensive rail system and making the trolley and rail fares FREE. Those who choose to pollute and commute in their cars should pay tolls. No more freebies for polluters.
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