S.D. Must Fund Some National City Roads : Panel Kills South Bay Freeway Link

Opponents of a decades-old proposal to build a freeway that would connect Interstates 5 and 805 appear to have won the final battle, dashing hopes of National City officials who had fought hard for construction of the roadway.

The state Transportation Commission, meeting in Los Angeles on Thursday, voted unanimously to sell 33 acres in Southeast San Diego once earmarked for the freeway--dubbed Highway 252--to the city, providing the city antes up $10 million to improve streets in the area and in National City.

The San Diego City Council is expected to vote on the sale Oct. 27.

The agreement “indicates the state has finally recognized the community has to be considered in the routing of freeways,” said county Supervisor Leon Williams, a longtime foe of the freeway. “ . . . It feels great.”

But National City Mayor Kile Morgan said he would ask members of his City Council to take legal action against San Diego and the state for failing to support the construction of the freeway. National City officials have battled hard to get the freeway built, contending that it is needed to help solve its traffic problems.

“San Diego is giving us the shaft,” said Morgan, who contends that National City’s traffic problems are caused by San Diego residents passing through.

The idea of the freeway first surfaced in 1954 and, in 1968, the California Department of Transportation purchased the land with the intention of constructing a 1.2-mile six-lane route that would cut an east-to-west roadway through the heart of Southeast San Diego.

Caltrans eventually spent $11 million to bulldoze nearly 280 homes in the proposed freeway’s path and relocate the affected families.

However, in 1978, under pressure from Southeast San Diego residents and Williams, then a city councilman, the city terminated its agreement with Caltrans. In 1980, Caltrans rescinded its route agreement.

Since then, National City has unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit to force the state and San Diego to move forward with the freeway. The controversy’s latest twist came in April, when the Board of Supervisors voted to support the freeway project.

Under the agreement approved by the Transportation Commission, San Diego would purchase the land at its appraised price of $3.3 million, according to William Dotson, district director for Caltrans in San Diego. Over the next 15 years, the city also would have to spend $6.3 million for road improvements in the area, as well as $3.7 million for similar improvements in National City, he said.

Independently, San Diego plans a $100-million redevelopment project for the area, which is now dotted with rubbish and weeds. The plan calls for housing, stores and light industry to be built in the corridor to provide a boost to the neighborhood. An estimated 125,000 to 150,000 people live nearby, according to Williams.

“That area has been down for a long time,” he said.