{"id":243719,"date":"2010-07-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/new-rapid-bus-system-to-eliminate-park-boulevard-medians-crossings\/"},"modified":"2010-07-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-23T07:00:00","slug":"new-rapid-bus-system-to-eliminate-park-boulevard-medians-crossings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/new-rapid-bus-system-to-eliminate-park-boulevard-medians-crossings\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuevo sistema de autobuses r\u00e1pidos para eliminar las medianas y cruces de Park Boulevard"},"content":{"rendered":"

por David Harvey
\nReportero SDUN
\n<\/strong>
\n

\"New<\/a>
When completed, the 10-mile, limited-stop service on the Mid-City Rapid Bus would stretch from San Diego State University to downtown San Diego, traversing El Cajon and Park boulevards in about 38 minutes. Construction is set to begin next year. (Graphic courtesy SANDAG)<\/figcaption><\/figure>A rapid-bus route from San Diego State University to downtown, along El Cajon and Park boulevards, is in its final design phase, with construction expected to begin in Spring 2011. <\/p>\n

The new route will use 15 new low-floor vehicles and raised curbs at the stations to speed up boarding. Extended curbsides are also expected to save time by allowing the bus to rejoin traffic with ease. The Mid-City Rapid Bus will take approximately 38 minutes to travel from SDSU to downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally what we hear from people when we ask them why they don\u2019t ride transit or why they don\u2019t ride more often is that it\u2019s too slow,\u201d said Miriam Kirshner, senior transportation planner for SANDAG. \u201cWe\u2019re doing everything that we can to make the service fast enough that it will be more attractive to use.\u201d <\/p>\n

The rapid-bus will run in normal traffic lanes for most of its route. However, along Park Boulevard between University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard, it will maneuver in a dedicated transit lane in the center of the street. Because of this lane, SANDAG has proposed making the Lincoln Avenue intersection a four-way stop, and eliminating the ability to cross Park Boulevard at Polk Street. <\/p>\n

SANDAG\u2019s transit planning department is awaiting City Council approval to redesign parking spaces along Park Boulevard and three side streets: Polk, Lincoln and Centre. Angled parking spaces along Park Boulevard would be changed to parallel spots, while angled spots would be created on sections of Polk, Lincoln and Centre adjacent to Park. Of the 33 parking spaces that would be removed, 24 would be replaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be installing transit lanes in the center of the street and in order to do that, we\u2019re going to be impacting parking on the side of the street,\u201d Kirshner said. \u201cTo partially make up for the loss, we\u2019d like to restripe some of the parking on some of the side streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives from the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement District, the University Heights Community Parking District and the North Park Planning Committee said community groups have accepted the rapid-bus installation but are unhappy with the development of the center transit lane on Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of concern about the bus going down the center of Park Boulevard,\u201d said Rob Steppke, chair of the North Park Planning Committee. \u201cThey have to take out all that median, the landscaping, the trees\u2014all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Jim Cooley, owner of the J.A. Cooley Museum at El Cajon and Park boulevards, those whose businesses are located on the stretch of Park Avenue where the center lane will be added are very unhappy with the project. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re putting in a bus that nobody wants and nobody needs,\u201d Cooley said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to shove it down our throats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooley, who has operated his automobile museum from the same address since 1943, said the city should learn from its past and respect the reasons streetcars were removed in 1949.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hinder traffic by being in the middle of the street, they\u2019re dangerous and they cited all the people that were hit and killed because they drop people off in the middle of the street,\u201d Cooley said. \u201cThey said it would beautify the neighborhood by getting rid of the streetcar and I don\u2019t think they had in mind putting in a bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the north end of the route, there are concerns that the Terrazzo\u2014the decorative sidewalk that once marked the entrance of the historic State Theater\u2014will be torn out to make room for a new bus station.<\/p>\n

District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria, who has been gauging community support for the project, said he has received favorable input from those who have learned about the rapid-bus project. However, he, too, has concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad that the State Theater is no longer there, but that doesn\u2019t mean that we should tear out the last piece of it,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cAs much as I appreciate and support public transit, I think this is not a mutually exclusive arrangement. We can have both and I am encouraging them to work hard to create a project that can accommodate the Terrazzo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The total cost of the rapid-bus construction and implementation is budgeted at $40 million, half of which will come from a Very Small Starts Federal Grant\u2014a grant dedicated to small-scale projects such as transportation routes\u2014and the rest from a sales-tax measure that dedicated funding to public transportation. Although MTS has recently been making cutbacks, Kirshner said the rapid bus would operate independently. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe sales tax measure that is providing 50 percent of the construction funding also provides 50 percent of the operating cost, so it is a secure source of funding,\u201d Kirshner said. \u201cThe federal grant also requires us to operate at a certain frequency, so we\u2019ll be tied into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the reasons Kirshner cited for the development of the rapid-bus through North Park, University Heights and Hillcrest\u2014in lieu of other areas in San Diego\u2014was the potential for increased ridership between SDSU and downtown. However, opinions on potential ridership remain varied. <\/p>\n

According to Cooley, busses near his shop are often nearly empty. However, Gary Weber, land use consultant with the El Cajon Boulevard BID, noted that SANDAG\u2019s survey might underestimate the number of potential passengers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have done a little bit of analysis \u2026 and we understand there is a real demand there for transit users,\u201d Weber said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been told that ridership could be even larger than SANDAG and MTS anticipate.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the City Council approves the changes to parking along the designated section of Park Boulevard, construction on the rapid-bus route\u2014which could take up to a year to complete\u2014will go forward as scheduled in Spring 2011.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Harvey SDUN Reporter A rapid-bus route from San Diego State University to downtown, along El Cajon and Park boulevards, is in its final design phase, with construction expected to begin in Spring 2011. The new route will use 15 new low-floor vehicles and raised curbs at the stations to speed up boarding. Extended […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1308,"featured_media":243720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"New rapid-bus system to eliminate Park Boulevard medians, crossings","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}