Countywide : Sandag Receives $677,000 Grant to Plan Transit

The San Diego Assn. of Governments received a $677,000 federal grant Wednesday to finance transportation planning and marketing, said Richard Huff, Sandag’s executive director.

The grant includes funds for an environmental impact study for proposed extensions of the San Diego Trolley lines to the Bayside-Harbor area and to Del Mar.

The grant came from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration to further transportation planning in the San Diego area. Huff said that Sandag had originally asked for $846,000 and had expected to receive the grant in February, so the funds could be used this year.

“We’ve been expecting it for some time, because it’s already in our budget, but we’re glad to get it because we don’t know what we’re going to get next year,” Huff said.

The money will also be used to finish the planning stages of the San Diego Trolley’s East County line; to assist local transit operators in evaluating their service areas and offer them possible route changes, and to fund a preliminary study on the potential effect that future development in the San Diego area will have on the transit system.

According to Carmen Clark, UMTA transportation representative, Sandag’s contribution to the San Diego region has been tremendous.

“Sandag is one of the leading metropolitan planning organizations in the country, and I’m sure they’ll be using the money well in upgrading transit in San Diego,” Clark said.

More than $100,000 of the grant is slated for the environmental impact report dealing with the possible Bayside-Harbor and North County trolley line, which includes a study on all viable alternatives to the extended line, such as more San Diego Transit bus routes.

Sandag will also update computerized models for traffic projections.