San Diego County will add more than one million people over the next 20 years. This includes over 300,000 new homes, and more than 400,000 additional jobs. With those jobs and homes comes additional traffic volume on our local freeways and roads. At current usage patterns, we’re talking about as many as 600,000 additional cars. Building new roads will never be the sole answer to our mobility problems.
Already there is a need for better mass transit in University City. Traffic studies have shown that 50 percent of the congestion in the greater Golden Triangle area is created by internal trips; that is, people driving to and from locations within the immediate area.
Public transportation projects that allow for better circulation would help take a significant number of cars off the road. That’s why I’m proud to announce that, as part of the 2006 comprehensive route analysis, Metropolitan Transit Authority has streamlined bus service in University City.
Effective June of this year, Route 30 has replaced Route 34 between University City and Pacific Beach. Route 30 operates seven days a week between downtown and University City, via Interstate 5, Grand Avenue, La Jolla Boulevard, La Jolla Shores Drive, UCSD, and the V.A. Hospital. Wait times are approximately 15 minutes for most of the weekday, and 30 minutes during nights and weekends.
In September of this year, MTS introduced Route 48/49 that also serves the University City community. The new line, which is called “The Circulator,” is a bi-directional local neighborhood ‘circulator’ serving and connecting UCSD, UTC, Scripps and Thornton hospitals and areas south of Nobel Drive. The new service will run every 30 minutes, seven days a week. This is another in a series of steps toward implementing a faster two-way circulator transit system called the Super Loop.
The Super Loop project is funded in part by the TransNet local sales tax measure approved by over 67 percent of the region’s voters in November 2004. Super Loop construction will begin in late 2007, and the Super Loop is expected to replace the Circulator and begin operation in 2008.
Improvements will include priority traffic treatments, such as signal prioritization, queue jumper lanes and special road markers that will allow Super Loop vehicles to move through traffic more rapidly than traditional buses. Planning for this project is now complete and the design phase is under way.
These changes reflect one more step on the road to a fast, clean and rider-oriented transit system that provides a true alternative to car travel. A vibrant and dynamic area like University City deserves nothing less! n
District 1 City Councilman and Council President Scott Peters contributes a monthly Council Corner column spotlighting City Hall happenings pertinent to the University City area.