Military

Navy Traffic on Coronado Bridge

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published April 26, 2009 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The City of Coronado is considering reinstating tolls on the Coronado Bridge to pay for ways to relieve traffic congestion. Much of the increased congestion on the island is due to Navy expansion. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

More than 80,000 cars cross the Coronado Bridge on a typical work day, and when both aircraft carriers are in port, that often swells to 90,000, creating back ups onto Interstate 5 at peak hours. The arrival next year of a 3rd aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, could generate about 5,000 more trips a day.

Coronado’s Director of Engineering, Ed Walton, says the city is considering various options, including a new tunnel, and one way to finance that could be a new toll of up to $5. Walton says the Navy has said they want to help solve increasing traffic gridlock but hasnt's come up with any specific offers.

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"They had mentioned there is this Defense Access fund, which is for strategic growth for military bases that’s available."Walton says "They looked at that in terms of doing some of their mitigation measures for spot improvements at specific intersections, but they haven’t come forth and said the military can contribute x number of dollars."

The Navy says in a statement quote,“While the Navy may have inputs to the Environmental Impact process at some point, it is premature to comment on potential decisions the lead government agencies may make.”

More than 60% of peak hour traffic on Coronado Bridge is to and from Naval Air Station North Island.

The city will decide how to go about mitigating traffic gridlock next year. It will take state legislation to enact a new toll.

Alison St John, KPBS news.

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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.