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Will Del Mar move the train to I-5 – for 4 billion?
More popular than under houses or through town
"We know this could really devastate Del Mar, and this is what we'll fight against," said Mayor Tracy Martinez
Del Mar, the city that will be most affected by the relocation of the train tracks away from its eroding bluffs, is steeling itself for the release of a new study of possible routes.
To date, the proposed options for the rail realignment have included such unsavory methods as taking homes, building tunnels beneath homes and businesses at depths as little as 28 feet, harming wetlands and miring North Del Mar in construction blockades for a decade.
"We know this could really devastate Del Mar, and this is what we'll fight against," said mayor Tracy Martinez at a city council meeting last week.
The realignment is the biggest project SANDAG has ever undertaken,
Last summer, the San Diego Association of Governments released three options for moving the single-track route off the bluffs into a double-track in a tunnel under the hillside by 2035.
The locations were along the fairgrounds and 1-5 (option A); through the city and under Crest Canyon (option B); and a route that starts at Jimmy Durante Boulevard and runs along Camino Del Mar to a south portal at Torrey Pines Road (option C). While the I-5 alignment had the most support because it avoids taking property, it's the most expensive at $4 billion.
All three options would disrupt residents and businesses, and 1,400 comments from individuals raised objections to each. So, seeking consensus among the many stakeholders, the agency in September began a value analysis study that incorporates feedback from Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, the fairgrounds, North County Transit District, and Metropolitan Transit Service.
The goal is to improve the existing alignment alternatives and identify new ones. But many fear Del Mar's concerns will lose out to rail stakeholders in the rush to complete the final environmental review in 2026.
"I don't know what SANDAG will come up with but I am not optimistic," Martinez said; a view echoed by fellow council members.
Not only is this the city's current top issue, the realignment is the biggest project SANDAG has ever undertaken, said deputy mayor Terry Gaasterland.
In fact, building tunnels under houses is not standard practice. "It hasn't been done in this way before, ever, as far as I've been able to ascertain," she added. "We have citizens who have asked SANDAG repeatedly for examples of tunnels that go under houses, and none have been produced."
There is no need to go under houses, said Angelina Neglia of the local advocacy group Coalition for Safer Trains. "We haven't been involved in any of the value analysis whatsoever," she said of SANDAG's new study — yet the group had all sorts of solutions.
Like the 1-5 Focused Route; a direct route along 1-5 between Sorrento Valley and Cardiff (via the San Elijo lagoon or Oceanside Station). They also came up with two others going down I-5 on public land, and none would infringe on homes, businesses, or the lagoon.
The group was supposed to meet with SANDAG on December 16, but said the agency cancelled the day before, saying they would meet in January.
"That worries us because the value analysis is going to come out and we have three new 1-5 alignments that should be considered; all in different areas."
She criticized options B and C for being in the floodplain and dramatically increasing infrastructure in the lagoon. "We think there will be many variations of options B and C in the new study" that will push for eliminating A altogether.
City manager Ashley Jones said SANDAG is looking at January or February to release the study for public viewing online before it's presented to the city council.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Will Del Mar move the train to I-5 – for 4 billion?
More popular than under houses or through town
Will Del Mar move the train to I-5 – for 4 billion?
More popular than under houses or through town
"We know this could really devastate Del Mar, and this is what we'll fight against," said Mayor Tracy Martinez
Del Mar, the city that will be most affected by the relocation of the train tracks away from its eroding bluffs, is steeling itself for the release of a new study of possible routes.
To date, the proposed options for the rail realignment have included such unsavory methods as taking homes, building tunnels beneath homes and businesses at depths as little as 28 feet, harming wetlands and miring North Del Mar in construction blockades for a decade.
"We know this could really devastate Del Mar, and this is what we'll fight against," said mayor Tracy Martinez at a city council meeting last week.
The realignment is the biggest project SANDAG has ever undertaken,
Last summer, the San Diego Association of Governments released three options for moving the single-track route off the bluffs into a double-track in a tunnel under the hillside by 2035.
The locations were along the fairgrounds and 1-5 (option A); through the city and under Crest Canyon (option B); and a route that starts at Jimmy Durante Boulevard and runs along Camino Del Mar to a south portal at Torrey Pines Road (option C). While the I-5 alignment had the most support because it avoids taking property, it's the most expensive at $4 billion.
All three options would disrupt residents and businesses, and 1,400 comments from individuals raised objections to each. So, seeking consensus among the many stakeholders, the agency in September began a value analysis study that incorporates feedback from Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, the fairgrounds, North County Transit District, and Metropolitan Transit Service.
The goal is to improve the existing alignment alternatives and identify new ones. But many fear Del Mar's concerns will lose out to rail stakeholders in the rush to complete the final environmental review in 2026.
"I don't know what SANDAG will come up with but I am not optimistic," Martinez said; a view echoed by fellow council members.
Not only is this the city's current top issue, the realignment is the biggest project SANDAG has ever undertaken, said deputy mayor Terry Gaasterland.
In fact, building tunnels under houses is not standard practice. "It hasn't been done in this way before, ever, as far as I've been able to ascertain," she added. "We have citizens who have asked SANDAG repeatedly for examples of tunnels that go under houses, and none have been produced."
There is no need to go under houses, said Angelina Neglia of the local advocacy group Coalition for Safer Trains. "We haven't been involved in any of the value analysis whatsoever," she said of SANDAG's new study — yet the group had all sorts of solutions.
Like the 1-5 Focused Route; a direct route along 1-5 between Sorrento Valley and Cardiff (via the San Elijo lagoon or Oceanside Station). They also came up with two others going down I-5 on public land, and none would infringe on homes, businesses, or the lagoon.
The group was supposed to meet with SANDAG on December 16, but said the agency cancelled the day before, saying they would meet in January.
"That worries us because the value analysis is going to come out and we have three new 1-5 alignments that should be considered; all in different areas."
She criticized options B and C for being in the floodplain and dramatically increasing infrastructure in the lagoon. "We think there will be many variations of options B and C in the new study" that will push for eliminating A altogether.
City manager Ashley Jones said SANDAG is looking at January or February to release the study for public viewing online before it's presented to the city council.
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