SANDAG Projects $56 Billion for Roads, But Congestion Inevitable

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 14, 2007 at 1:03 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The San Diego Association of Governments held a public hearing today on its long term transportation plan to keep the region moving over the next 25 years. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The San Diego Association of Governments held a public hearing today on its long term transportation plan to keep the region moving over the next 25 years. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

SANDAG’s plan, updated every four years, projects $56 billion worth of improvements. The plan includes four more lanes up Interstate 5, toll roads in the far north and south of the county, and a tunnel to create double tracks for the Coaster through Del Mar.

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But project manager Michael Hix says there’s no way the region can build its way out of traffic congestions. The population is expected to grow from 3 to 4 million by the year 2030.

Hix : So that means that three quarters of the population in the next 25 years are already here, and where they live and the land use patterns are already established so we’re working very hard with the local jurisdictions on trying to get that other million people to move into transportation corridors.

However that means more density, unpopular in San Diego, and the SANDAG board doesn’t control land use planning. Public comment on the transportation plan ends Monday.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.