San Diego City Council Considers "TRANSIT FIRST" option
Steven Goetsch
Just when you think the deck in San Diego County is stacked in favor of expanding freeways, something happens. The article below describes a key
vote in the San Diego City Council scheduled for this Monday. Any CAFÉ members or supporters who live in the City of San Diego, plus any regional groups,
are asked to lobby San Diego City Council members for their support.
SD Council asked to back 'transit first' in 40-year transportation plan
By Robert J. Hawkins
4:45 p.m., June 22, 2011
The San Diego City Council will be asked on Monday to send a strong “transit before highways” message to the regional planning agency that is drawing up the county’s transportation plans for the next 40 years.
If the council endorses that message it will be joining voice with a number of advocacy groups that are pressing the San Diego Association of Governments to re-prioritize the highway, transit and bicycle-pedestrian projects in the $196 billion draft 2050 Regional Transportation Plan.
Such groups as MoveSanDiego, Sierra Club, Cleveland National Forest Foundation and TransForm have all submitted statements that, at least in part, encourage SANDAG to move many public transportation projects up sooner in the 40-year schedule.
On Wednesday, the city council’s Land Use & Housing committee unanimously approved a letter for submission to the council that basically recommends mass transit and public transit projects be given priority and highway expansion be moved toward the back of the bus.
The letter calls on SANDAG to move up funding for commuter routes, improve transit frequency and active transportation (bicycle and pedestrian) projects.
The letter also seeks specific answers to another frequently raised question: How will the projects outlined in the 2050 plan help the region meet green house gas reduction goals specified by the state? Critics contend that, while pollution levels will drop in the early years of the transportation plan, they will rebound in the later years.
Council members on the sub-committee also listed projects they are keenly interested in seeing moved to the front of the queue: Sherri Lightner listed a rapid bus route along State Route 56. She also expressed concerns over proposed widening of Interstate 5. David Alvarez asked for a more flexible description for the “Otay Truck Route Widening” project. Todd Gloria asked that the various city streetcar lines be given earlier development schedules.
Chief SANDAG transportation planner Charles “Muggs” Stoll cautioned the panel against pitting transit against highways.”I respectfully submit that this is a multi-modal plan,” he said. He described the agency’s integrated approach to drawing up all transportation projects and added that “putting transit over highways is not really a useful argument.”
Stoll talked about the plan’s “unprecedented investment” in mass transportation and non-vehicle projects that will “make San Diego a world-class place for bicycles and pedestrians.”
Steve Goetsch
Solana Beach, CA