Preliminary designs and technical studies needed to lower the railroad tracks in downtown Carlsbad got the go-ahead last week with the City Council’s unanimous agreement to share the costs with regional planning and transit agencies.
Carlsbad will contribute up to $5.2 million in matching funds for the preliminary work, which is expected to cost $21 million and will take the project to the 30 percent design level. The city appropriated the money in its fiscal 2023-24 budget.
“This agreement directly supports one of the strategic objectives of the City Council’s five-year strategic plan, specifically to work with the San Diego Association of Governments and North County Transit District to prioritize, determine costs, and work with state and federal representatives to seek funding for the preliminary design and technical studies for lowering the tracks in the village,” City Manager Scott Chadwick said Tuesday.
SANDAG and NTCD officials have assured Carlsbad that the matching funds will be used only if grants are obtained for the rest of the money.
The $5.2 million does not fall under Proposition H, which requires voter approval for some expenditures of more than $1 million, said Carlsbad City Attorney Cindie McMahon. The proposition only covers the purchase of property or improvements to property owned by the city. The trench project would take place on land owned by NCTD.
If completed, the tracks would be lowered to about 30 feet below street level from near the northern city limits at Oceanside and the Buena Vista Lagoon to Tamarack Avenue just north of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Overpasses would be built for streets and walkways.
Completion of the project is expected to cost more than $500 million. Construction could begin as soon as 2029 and may take as long as four years. For much of that time, trains would be diverted through the work area onto a temporary “shoofly” track parallel to the trench.
Despite the cost and inconvenience of construction, the project is expected to bring numerous long-term benefits.
Pedestrians and drivers would be safer, because the trench eliminates the at-grade crossings where most accidents occur. Traffic congestion would be reduced without the stops for trains.
Emergency response times near the tracks would improve because ambulances and firetrucks would no longer need to stop at railroad crossings.
Also, the trains would be quieter because the trench muffles their noise, and in the trench they don’t have to sound their horns at crossings. Downtown property values would increase, and businesses in the area would benefit.
Economic benefits would include lives saved, jobs created, increased sales tax revenue and higher property values, according to a study completed in 2017 by San Diego-based consulting firm T.Y. Lin International at the request of city officials.
The T.Y. Lin study estimated the city’s total potential benefits to be as much as $22 billion over 100 years with the trenched tracks in place.
The trenching project would be part of SANDAG’s ongoing effort to increase train speeds, efficiency and capacity by double-tracking the entire 60 miles of coastal railroad in San Diego County. About two-thirds of the route has been double-tracked so far, and the Village area is one of the remaining bottlenecks.
Solana Beach is the only city in San Diego County to lower its tracks so far. The 1.4-mile section completed in 1999 was one of the county’s first segments to be double-tracked.
The coastal route is San Diego’s only rail connection to Los Angeles and the rest of the United States. The section through Carlsbad is used by Amtrak, NCTD’s Coaster commuter and BNSF freight trains.
