In March I wrote about State Senator Christine Kehoe’s “transit-first” coastal highway bill – at that time it packed quite a punch and promised to reshape freeway expansion debates all along California’s coastline – but in a revision last month Kehoe removed much of the “transit-first” language amid opposition from trucking and highway interests. Today, we learned that Kehoe plans to narrow the bill to include just North San Diego County and the contentious battle to stop the widening of Interstate 5.
The bill has likely always been about I-5 and North County for the Del Mar politician, but it nonetheless called for a promising policy change that would’ve limited the ability of Caltrans to add freeway lanes without first exploring the effectiveness of transit options. The final language hasn’t been released yet so it isn’t clear exactly what effect the bill will have on I-5, but according to the San Diego Union Tribune Kehoe promised it would “enable highway development, lessen impacts on lagoons and improve transit offerings in the region.”
As a north san diego county resident, I can’t help but be bittersweet about it. Wish it had more to do with the state as a whole, but we really really need transit focus up here. Light rail from Carlsbad to Del Mar that hooks into the Sprinter in San Marcos is a great start and this makes that look a little more likely.
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