San Diego County Seeks Public Input on Freeway Development

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 26, 2007 at 7:44 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

San Diego County's freeway system would be geared to serve carpoolers and rapid bus service in coming years. A draft transportation plan would add more of those lanes on county freeways to reduce cong

San Diego County's freeway system would be geared to serve carpoolers and rapid bus service in coming years. A draft transportation plan would add more of those lanes on county freeways to reduce congestion. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

Freeways such as Interstates 5 and 15 would get more carpool and toll lanes over the next 20 years. The San Diego Association of Governments' draft regional transportation plan encourages carpooling and other alternatives to ease congestion. SANDAG Planner Mike Hix says all major freeways will get more managed lanes.

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Hix: And the nice thing about those managed lanes is that they can not only provide opportunities for carpools and vanpools etcetera, but it also serves as a way to promote transit so that we can get bus rapid transit that gets people around the county in a much faster fashion than it does right now.

Hix says we can't build our way out of traffic jams by adding new freeways. That's why the plan calls for "managing demand" during commute times.

Hix: We've doubled the money in this plan than we had last time toward transportation demand management to help people find those alternatives for carpools or whatever it might be. Once again to alleviate some of that demand when everybody wants to travel during the peak period.

Most of the $58 billion plan is paid for with TransNet money, the half-cent countywide sales tax. SANDAG officials want to hear what you think. Comments are accepted until mid-September on SANDAGs Web site or at upcoming workshops. The final plan is expected to be adopted in November. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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