in an effort to reduce trolley-related backups<\/a> and halted left-turn traffic. Still, the street-level crossings continue to cause frequent delays at one of the city\u2019s busiest intersections.<\/p>\nProposed solutions include moving the trolley tracks or placing them underground, which could cost anywhere from $569 million to $741 million \u2014nearly four times the city\u2019s current yearly budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith that price tag, obviously, it\u2019s not something that we\u2019re going to be moving on right this second,\u201d Councilmember Lauren Cazares said.<\/p>\n
Years ago, city leaders asked SANDAG to look into potential ways to ease traffic congestion and improve safety at the railway crossing. The project was awarded $500,000 in funding to explore redevelopment options under the Caltrans Sustainable Planning grant program.<\/p>\n
Though there are no immediate plans for Orange Line service frequency to increase, SANDAG Senior Regional Planner Cecily Taylor said the change will come eventually. Currently, the line runs a train about every 15 minutes, but the agency has plans to double the frequency. Those frequent stops would halt traffic at intersections twice as often, creating longer backups.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout any changes (to the trolley station), the traffic delays in La Mesa would significantly increase,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
SANDAG evaluated four concepts for the La Mesa Boulevard trolley station area, including short-term improvements \u2014 estimated to cost about $13.7 million \u2014 such as signal upgrades and new pedestrian walkways.<\/p>\n
The most expensive proposal had an estimated cost of $741 million and would have lowered the trolley into a trench to reduce vehicle-train collisions and pedestrian trespassing incidents. SANDAG officials decided not to pursue the idea after residents said they opposed it.<\/p>\n
Overall, officials said an elevated trolley station would likely be the best solution, with a cost of about $567 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere would be the greatest safety and mobility benefit from the aerial guideway or the trench,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cThe trade-off is that these are complex projects, there would also be ongoing costs to consider associated with having a grade-separated station.\u201d<\/p>\n
The price tag puts any major redevelopment far beyond La Mesa\u2019s reach, at least any time soon. Officials said they want to continue weighing their options as potential grant funding becomes available.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen funding does become available, we need to be ready to jump at it because if we don\u2019t have ideas that have been studied then we\u2019re not competitive,\u201d Cazares said.<\/p>\n
Further cost-benefit analysis should be completed, Taylor said, noting the project could be funded with federal grants but they will likely stipulate that some local funding is provided.<\/p>\n
The study found that residents are most concerned with maintaining the downtown village character while maintaining transit access, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care if you draw flowers on it, it\u2019s never gonna look village-y,\u201d Councilmember Laura Lothian said, noting the rendering for the elevated trolley looked \u201cindustrial and concrete.\u201d<\/p>\n
There could be ways to incorporate the structure into the village vibe, Taylor said, but noted the agency didn\u2019t have any specific recommendations because the project is in the early stages.<\/p>\n
The city council did not take any actions based on the study\u2019s findings. Officials said construction could take up to four years, once funding is secured.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll let our great-grandchildren know about this,\u201d Mayor Mark Arapostathis joked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City leaders in La Mesa are reviewing options to fix chronic traffic problems at the downtown trolley station,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,20161,10506,1370,728,50,3549,3550,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-981754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-east-county","tag-la-mesa","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-sandiego","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117041517434483960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}