SAN DIEGO : Council Drops I-15 City Heights Tunnel

The City Council voted Monday to kill a multimillion-dollar project that would have built a cover over a planned extension of Interstate 15 to link the divided neighborhood of City Heights.

The 8-1 vote put an end to the Visions project, which called for the freeway extension through City Heights to be built in a tunnel under a 3 1/2-block cover that residents could travel across.

The council began to shy away from Visions three weeks ago when it was told by the California Department of Transportation that the project would further delay construction of the freeway, which was originally scheduled to be completed in 1985.

“I think we found a solution that’s going to meet the problems that we have encountered--how to mitigate the freeway and how to build for the community,” said the area’s councilman, John Hartley. “It’s really a win-win for everyone.”

Hartley said $20 million that had been earmarked for the cover will be channeled into other community improvements, such as better landscaping and several extra-wide bridges over the freeway for traffic and pedestrians.

As the plan now stands, Caltrans will construct a cover over only one block of the freeway.

Another drawback to Visions was the estimated $1-million-a-year cost to operate a giant ventilation system that would have pumped air pollution out of the tunnel.

The shorter tunnel won’t have a pump system. Visions supporters say that plan will endanger students at Central Elementary School, which is next to the one-block cover still set for construction. They fear air pollution will be too high without the ventilation.