Finding Money to Widen 78 a Priority

By David Sterrett, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

Apr. 24–NORTH COUNTY —- Local officials said Monday that finding money to widen Highway 78 and improve Interstate 5 is part of a long-term transportation plan expected to be adopted by a regional planning agency Friday.

The $51 billion plan slated to go before the board of the San Diego Association of Governments calls for the North County highway improvements and upgrades to the Coaster and Sprinter lines within the next 25 years

“North County gets its fair share under this plan,” said Jerome Stocks, an Encinitas councilman who is a vice-chair of the regional planning agency.

The San Diego Association of Governments reviews its long-term transportation plan every five years, and under the agency’s current $40 billion plan, there would have been no funding for Highway 78 widening or for several improvements to Interstate 5.

But agency staffers have said they expect to be able to raise an additional $10 billion through fees, bonds or grants to complete a host of projects by 2030, though there is no detailed timeline for the projects. The staffers have presented three options on how to spend the extra money: using it for both highway and public transportation; spending it all on highways; or spending it all on public transportation.

The agency’s transportation committee voted 6-2 last week in favor of the balanced plan, and several North County politicians said Monday that they expect the full planning agency board to approve the plan Friday.

In addition to the $650-million-project to add two lanes to Highway 78, the plan calls for building toll lanes on Interstate 15 north of Highway 78 and on Interstate 5 north of Oceanside.

The plan also allocates money to add a second track for the Sprinter light rail line that will begin running between Oceanside and Escondido at the end of this year.

There is also funding proposed for improvements to the Coaster line that could shave 15 minutes off the trip from Oceanside to downtown San Diego, Stocks said.

“This plan delivered the most improvement to North County,” Stocks said.

The transportation panel approved the plan, despite a push from a couple of elected officials for an alternative plan that would allocate more money to public transportation and less to road improvements.

Del Mar Councilman David Druker, who represents coastal North County on the committee, championed a plan that would not have included the widening of Highway 78 or the toll roads on the north end of the county. Instead the plan called for more rapid bus routes such as one along Palomar Airport Road and San Marcos Boulevard.

“What I would like to see is that the county as a whole emphasize mass transit as much as possible because we need to provide an excellent alternative for people if they choose to get out of their cars,” Druker said.

Druker said the more transit-oriented plan would provide for “fully integrated public transportation system,” but he said the board of the regional planning agency will approve the plan that puts more money toward roads.

Oceanside Councilman Jerry Kern, who is coastal North County’s alternate on the regional transportation committee, said he favored the plan that provides money for both roads and public transportation.

“The emphasis should be on balance,” Kern said.

He said that spending a great portion of the money on public transportation “would not be an advantage to Oceanside and North County.”

Poway Councilman Bob Emery, who is the transportation committee representative for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, voted for the balanced road and transit plan. He said the San Diego transit system would have preferred the plan giving more money to public transportation, but the board wanted to support a plan that would pass so he voted for the balanced plan.

The more transit-oriented approach was supported by Escondido Councilman Ed Gallo, who represents the North County Transit District on the countywide transportation committee.

He said the North County Transit District’s philosophy is “we have to be able to bite the bullet and spend money on transit systems.”

Despite voting for the alternative, Gallo said he supports spending money to widen Highway 78.

“North County politicians now have to make sure we do what we say we are going to do,” Gallo said.

Gary Gallegos, the executive director of the regional planning agency, said all of the road projects are ranked based on several criteria such as cost and capacity.

He said widening Interstate 15 and Highway 76 are top priorities in the $40 million transportation plan, and that the additional $10 billion will be needed for lower priority projects such as Highway 78 widening.

He said the agency could receive state and federal funds as well as issue bonds to raise the money.

“Once we decide what the region needs, we’ll start to find the money,” Gallegos said.

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Copyright (c) 2007, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

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