State Route 94 Improvements

[andy3175]

Update on California State Route 94 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Freeway) expansion project between I-5 and I-805 ... currently back under study after community members raised concerns about the project.

http://www.keepsandiegomoving.com/SR-94-Corridor/SR94-Intro.aspx

Caltrans has been studying the environmental impacts of adding Express Lanes along SR 94 between I-805 and Downtown San Diego. The addition of these Express Lanes would support the planned South Bay Rapid service, as well as carpools and vanpools along the route.

Local and state representatives, as well as community stakeholders, along the project alignment have recently requested that Caltrans and SANDAG consider incorporating community-based alternatives into the SR 94 Express Lanes Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Specifically, we have been asked to study buses on shoulders options, general purpose lane conversions and access to transit from local communities along 94.

The proposed Bus on Shoulder Project addresses the community's request to study buses on shoulders in the SR 94/I-805 corridor on an interim basis.  Caltrans will also be analyzing a general lane conversion alternative and providing direct access to existing and future Rapid services from the communities along 94, which requires evaluation of the SR 15/SR 94 HOV direct connector.

The draft environmental document will be released for public review and comment once the additional analysis has been completed.

http://sdcitybeat.com/article-14344-residents-officials-make-u-turn-on-state-route-94-expansion.html (7/1/15)

Over the last few months that sentiment in the community has abruptly shifted, culminating in a recent flood of letters from elected officials asking the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and Caltrans to not only explore putting a bus stop in the neighborhood, but to potentially scale back the freeway expansion.

“We actually have a community who wants and needs access to the transit system, and right now we’re ignoring them, literally bypassing them,” said City Councilmember David Alvarez, whose district includes Sherman Heights, in an email. “Freeway projects…bring air quality impacts to adjacent communities. If the community bears that burden, it has to share in the benefits.”

The Route 94 expansion represents outdated thinking, said Colin Parent, policy counsel for Circulate San Diego, a transportation think tank.

“Cities all across the country are taking down urban freeways, and, yet, San Diego is working to expand them,” he said in an email. “Freeway expansions are looking more and more like an anachronism as more millennials and boomers are choosing to live in walkable compact communities.”

As an alternative, advocates have asked officials to scale back the ramp and rather than have it lead to a new express lane, convert existing lanes into use for buses and carpooling. Caltrans planners have said they will consider including this option in an environmental impact review (EIR), which was expected in spring but has since been delayed.

“This is the time to push,” said Joe LaCava, chair of the Community Planners Committee, which represents local community planning groups on citywide issues. “If we can’t even get an alternative in an EIR, then why are we bothering with anything at all? That’s the lowest threshold to try to think differently or act differently.”

Congested freeways are a “good motivator” for people to take transit, he added. “So it’s, like, ‘Why don’t you do the transit first, and if the congestion gets too bad and intolerable, then you can do the freeway fix?’” So far, efforts have mainly focused on just getting regional planners to consider alternatives.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/jun/01/community-groups-launch-petition-stop-route-94-exp/ (6/1/15)

The proposal to expand state Route 94 in San Diego is entering its final planning stages but the project is being met with resistance from community and environmental groups.

Advocates launched a petition to stop the express lanes project.

Caltrans and the San Diego Association of Governments want to ease congestion by adding express lanes, one in each direction from Interstate 5 to Interstate 805. The lanes would serve High Occupancy Vehicles and new Bus Rapid Transit service.

The idea of expanding freeways to promote the use of public transportation is becoming a hard sell in San Diego. Environmental groups are urging the agencies involved to reconsider the plan.

"We see this as a $6 million opportunity to improve mobility not only locally but regionally as well,"

Monique Lopez, policy advocate with the Environmental Health Coalition, told KPBS Midday Edition on Monday. "What we like to see are innovative community-based solutions."

Gustavo Dallarda, Caltrans' corridor director, said the plan addresses one of the most congested freeways in the region.

http://sdcitybeat.com/article-14206-state-route-94-in-the-city-of-san-diego-has-become-a-battle-ground-in-highway-expansion-debate.html (5/20/15)

Tensions recently swelled over a planned freeway expansion in the heart of the city. A key transportation artery that pumps vehicles in and out of Downtown is slated for major surgery. While planners have said the construction is necessary to boost the city’s bus system, environmentalists have called that explanation “green washing.”

With a cost of $600 million, the project would expand State Route 94 by building another level on top of the existing highway between 22nd Street and Interstate 805. The two miles of new “managed lanes” would service carpooling and buses, linking up to “bus rapid transit” networks along Interstate 15 to the north and a similar project planned along I-805 to the south.

While regional officials marketed the expansion as transit-friendly, activists have taken a firm stand. In a city where about 75 percent of commuters are solo drivers and only 4 percent use mass transit, critics argued that, to incentivize transit and carpooling, “managed lanes” should simply replace existing lanes.

“The local communities who are battling [the expansion of Route] 94 are actually doing a favor for everyone in our region,” said Jack Shu, president of the Cleveland National Forest Foundation’s Board of Directors. “What they could win is a win for looking at transportation differently in our region.”

Along the same lines, the Cleveland National Forest Foundation has sued SANDAG on its plan to expand a 27-mile stretch of Interstate 5 by four “managed lanes” for buses and carpooling. The project is part of a $6.5-billion package that includes enhancing the trolley system and adding bike lanes.

“Somewhere along the line we have to change the thinking process and priorities of our elected officials,” Shu said. “We have one of the best freeway systems in the country if not the world, but we have a transit system that’s quite deficient.”

When it comes to several highway expansions, Caltrans has argued that it’s bound by Transnet–a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2004–which among other projects, specifically calls for the addition of two high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes along Route 94 between I-5 and Interstate 8.

“If you go to the Transnet measure it talks about new HOV lanes,” Dallarda said. “It doesn’t talk about converting. It goes as far as describing how many lanes you have in addition to the HOV lanes.”

While specific language in the text can be amended by a two-thirds vote of the SANDAG board or a vote of the people, it’s unclear whether the agency would entertain such an idea.

[The Ghostbuster]

Does anyone know if the project is going to be built as proposed? Or will the NIMBYS kill the plan?