Here's something you might be interested in.
Dubbed the "Mid-Coast Transit Corridor Project," the light rail expansion would include two stops at UC San Diego, one at Pepper Canyon and one at the Preuss School/Thornton Hospital/Scripps Hospital, with an option for a third near the Veterans Administration Medical Center. The extension would begin downtown at Santa Fe Depot, where the Blue Line currently terminates.
If the project receives environmental approval and moves forward, the work is expected to be complete by 2018 or 2019. Contractors will perform preliminary field investigation work on the UC San Diego campus beginning next week.
Dubbed the "Mid-Coast Transit Corridor Project," the light rail expansion would include two stops at UC San Diego, one at Pepper Canyon and one at the Preuss School/Thornton Hospital/Scripps Hospital, with an option for a third near the Veterans Administration Medical Center. The extension would begin downtown at Santa Fe Depot, where the Blue Line currently terminates.
If the project receives environmental approval and moves forward, the work is expected to be complete by 2018 or 2019. Contractors will perform preliminary field investigation work on the UC San Diego campus beginning next week.
Hmmm. At least two years ago, this project as described was reported as the plan, and one that was imminent. The sad part of the story is that UCSD, with its perennial parking woes, has engaged in foot dragging this trolley extension for at least twenty years. Now, it is willing to allow the riffraff who ride the trolley access to the campus, but only that part to the east of I-5. (Take a look at a map, and you will immediately realize that the main campus is to the WEST of I-5.)
As to where this "Pepper Canyon" is, I cannot determine, even after several minutes of web search. I doubt it is west of I-5. Oh, then there's s stop "near the Veterans Administration Medical Center." That facility is west of I-5 also, which would mean at a minimum a walk of a half-mile or more for the aged veterans, or a shuttle bus ride. I might add, Leorah, that the term "Veterans Administration" is obsolete by more than a decade, more like two. That agency is now called the Dept of Veterans Affairs, and has full cabinet status in the federal government.
The extension would not "begin" downtown. It would extend north from Old Town, where the newest line of the trolley turns up Mission Valley. I could go on, but will stop here.
This post lacked some real research and understanding. Next time, do your homework BEFORE you make a blog post.
Ha ha - it's been a long time since I've attended UCSD but I can remember the administration's comically absurd claims that the Price Center is NOT the center of campus.
I'm not sure who you mean by "riffraff." At worst, you come off as possibly xenophobic/racist/aegist, given the historical baggage associate with the term, and at best you're still someone who uses the phrase "riffraff."
Pepper Canyon is west of the 5, and far less than half a mile from the VA hospital. While I think there are many disconnected neighborhoods that would have benefitted more from light-rail service than the UCSD community, this seems like an extensive plan which will connect large parts of campus to downtown. If San Diego is going to do something to get people to ride the trolley, I can imagine worse than this.
Additionally, the fact that the track extension will "start" from old town is relevant only to transit nerds. I am one, and I don't care. I'm not sure why the other nitpicky facts you take issue with here merited such a mean-spirited comment. This is a fine, informative blogpost.
PS- It's entirely possible the author of the post used "Veterans Administration" because the hospital is still known as the VA Hospital.
There's not enough poor people and welfare recipients in the area to make the UCSD extension feasible. This is a boondoggle to benefit the construction industry.
The Blue Line does not terminate at the Santa Fe Depot stop. It terminates at American Plaza transfer station. The Orange Line still ends at Santa Fe and the Green Line runs through it, but the Blue Line no longer goes through there.
Thank you David Dodd for the clarifications on the Blue Line trolley termination.
UCSD still refers to the VA Hospital as the Veterans Administration, as it did in the announcement of this project.
Both the VA Hospital and Pepper Canyon are West of I-5.
Thousands of people commute to UCSD daily and having a trolley stop there would reduce the number of cars on the road, which is a benefit to all who live on Earth.