An open house dedicated to University City’s future Super Loop ” a 7.5-mile, bi-circular bus route scheduled to be implemented in late 2008 ” will be held from 3 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 11, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive.
Residents will have a chance to browse through Super Loop informational displays and will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire about the design of the stations and other elements of the project, according to Christine Rychel, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) senior engineer and Super Loop project manager.
“We’ll be reporting to the Transportation Committee the results of the questionnaire, and they will take them into consideration and assess what comments were made,” Rychel said. “It’s not a formal presentation, but there will be people there to answer questions.”
A collaborative project between SANDAG, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and City Council President Scott Peters’ office, the Super Loop proposes 14 stainless-steel bus stations along La Jolla Village Drive, Nobel Drive, Executive Drive, Voigt Drive and Regents Road.
A total of 12 newly purchased natural gas hybrid buses will run daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. as part of the route, which is scheduled to begin construction in early 2008, according to a SANDAG news release.
The project’s goal is to ease traffic congestion, but many residents have voiced concern at community meetings that the route, which will become the third public transportation outlet within the Golden Triangle, is unnecessary.
Some argue that the project will also generate increased parking problems in residential neighborhoods throughout University City by encouraging students to leave their vehicles and ride the bus to the UCSD campus to avoid expensive permit parking.
The Super Loop project is in the environmental preliminary engineering stage. A period of public comment for the negative declaration closed in May. The project is funded partially through the TransNet local sales tax measure approved in 2004.
For more information about the open house, contact Genevieve DePerio, (858) 452-0031, ext. 351. To learn more about the Super Loop project, visit www.sandag.org and go to Transportation and Public Transit.