SANDAG releases draft RTP for public review

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) board has released its draft 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for public review.

The unanimous April 22 vote by the SANDAG board also authorizes the release of the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the RTP once the draft EIR is completed, schedules seven public hearings in June (the closest to Fallbrook is the June 16 hearing in the San Marcos City Council chambers), and sets a June 30 closing date for oral, written, and electronic public comment.

“It basically releases the document for public review period,” said SANDAG senior regional planner Heather Adamson.

“We’re looking forward to getting lots of input and public comment on the draft plan over the next couple of months.”

The RTP covers highway, transit, and other transportation items through the year 2050 and includes both a revenue-constrained transportation network and a revenue-unconstrained network. In July 2010, a draft unconstrained transportation network used to develop the draft RTP was accepted by the SANDAG board.

The estimated cost of the unconstrained plan was between $135 billion and $140 billion in 2010 dollars while revenue of between $100 billion and $110 billion in 2010 dollars is expected to be available through 2050 from federal, state, local, and private sources. The costs will be refined through the plan adoption process, and a hybrid scenario accepted as the preferred revenue-constrained network during SANDAG’s December 2010 board meeting has a cost estimate of $109.5 billion in 2010 dollars.

During the draft process four revenue-constrained scenarios were presented: a transit-emphasis network, a rail-freight emphasis network, a highway-emphasis network, and a fusion network based on preferences identified during a public opinion telephone survey. In November 2010, SANDAG’s board directed staff to develop a hybrid scenario which merged the fusion and highway-emphasis scenarios.

The highway-emphasis network included widening State Route 76 between Melrose Drive in Oceanside and Couser Canyon Road to six lanes, although the hybrid plan only calls for widening that portion to four lanes.

The plan includes widening Highway 76 from two to between four and six lanes east of Interstate 15. “Great strides have been made working with the tribal nations in this region,” said Barona Tribal Council chair Edwin “Thorpe” Romero, who represented the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association during SANDAG’s April 22 meeting.

“This is the first time that our plans are represented in this document,” Romero said. “This is history. This is starting to tell a story.”

The Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association has an advisory seat on the SANDAG board. “We appreciate the diplomatic approach,” Romero said. “We welcome and look forward to working with each and everybody at the table.”

The hybrid plan also includes high-speed rail between Temecula and San Diego International Airport along the I-15 corridor and peak bus rapid transit between Escondido and Riverside County. Rapid bus service between Carlsbad and Camp Pendleton is in the unconstrained network but not in the hybrid plan.

Public funding is not needed for toll roads, and three of those in the Greater Fallbrook area are in the revenue-constrained plan. Four toll lanes would be added to the eight existing freeway lanes on Interstate 5 between Vandegrift Boulevard and the Orange County line, four toll lanes would complement the eight current Interstate 15 freeway lanes between State Route 78 and the Riverside County border, and the State Route 241 toll road will include a San Diego County portion between the Orange County segment and I-5.

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