At the urging of the public and City Council members, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has agreed to also study the option of sending the high-speed train along I-15 to Qualcomm stadium, skipping University City, an option that was taken off the table in 2005. When CHSRA began the scoping process, it had only planned to study three options, two of which would send the train 150 feet under University City to University Towne Centre or through Rose Canyon along I-5 to Lindbergh Field.  District 1 City Councilwoman Sherri Lightner pushed for the authority to study the I-15 to Qualcomm option, along with State Senator Christine Kehoe, District 8 City Councilman Ben Hueso, District 6 City Councilwoman Donna Frye and Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Castaneda. The I-15 option would also eventually allow for the train to continue along 1-805 to Rodriguez International Airport in Tijuana, the politicians said.  “I find it hard to believe that the I-15 to Qualcomm alternative won’t be the cheapest option, attract more passengers and offer a shorter travel time,” Lightner said. Public comment on the now four proposed alternatives closes Nov. 20. CHSRA expects to determine its preferred alternative — or alternatives, as the case may be — by next October to study for the state environmental impact report and federal environmental impact statement. The public will have the opportunity to comment on the preferred alternatives in January 2011. CHSRA will evaluate the alternatives based on factors such as cost, travel time, feasibility, environmental constraints and community disruptions. CHSRA officials said it scrapped the I-15 to Qualcomm option during its first review process in 2005 when San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and the city’s Development Services Department indicated it wanted passengers to travel directly into downtown – meaning, Lindbergh Field – without having to transfer to another mode of transportation at Qualcomm, according to the agencies’ comments provided to CHSRA. In 2008, Destination Lindbergh was birthed when SANDAG joined the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority and the City of San Diego to help envision plans for transforming Lindbergh Field into a transportation hub for the region. A high-speed rail stop at the airport is part of the group’s recommendations.   University City disapproval The University Community Planning Group (UCPG) will draft a letter to state its opposition to sending the high-speed train through University City, and its preference for the 1-15 to Qualcomm alternative. More than 80 people turned out for the Nov. 10 UCPG meeting with CHSRA, mostly to verbalize their opposition to sending the train through the community. Sending the train through Rose Canyon would decimate the quality of the park, residents said. Tunneling underneath University City and the vibrations of sending 134 trains through the community, and the parking needed to accommodate the travelers, will all adversely affect the neighborhoods, stated La Jolla Colony resident Lisa Churchill, who spoke on behalf of the UCPG. “The tunnel idea is poorly defined and ill-described,” Churchill said. “We demand that you do it right and fully study all the alternatives.” In projecting future ridership, CHSRA has calculated that California will grow by 12 million people by 2030. The journey from San Francisco to San Diego is expected to take three hours and 60 minutes, and from Los Angeles to San Diego, one hour and 20 minutes.  Meeting tonight  The Peninsula community will have the opportunity tonight, Nov. 12 to get some of their questions answered at the “TRANSITions High-Speed Transit Forum” at Point Loma Nazarene University’s Brown Chapel. “The forum is an opportunity for the general public to begin a conversation about what these systems should look like in terms of the design, aesthetics and ergonomics of the system,” said Mark Adler, the program’s chair. The forum is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. at Brown Chapel, 3900 Lomaland Drive. Tickets will be $15 at the door. San Diego-based nonprofit Design Innovation Institute is hosting the forum. Among the topics covered will be the three different modes of high speed that could be used for the project: high-speed rail, personal rapid transit and magnetic levitation (maglev) trains.