Study shows best route for Del Mar train tunnel
Proposed alignments for the train tunnel through Del Mar.
(Courtesy SANDAG)
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Recent studies show a route through Crest Canyon is the highest rated of five potential choices for a railroad tunnel that would take the railroad tracks off the eroding coastal bluffs in Del Mar.
Other possible underground routes include one along Interstate 5, one beneath the street of Camino Del Mar though the city of Del Mar, and two more through Crest Canyon, according to a conceptual analysis by the San Diego Association of Governments and its consultants.
SANDAG, North County Transit District and other local agencies have talked for years about moving the tracks off the bluffs, but only recently have the agencies received grant money for the preliminary studies required. Construction alone is expected to cost $3 billion or more.
Del Mar to begin fire evacuation study for referendum proponents
Del Mar City Hall
April 21, 2021 11:52 AM PT
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The city of Del Mar will try to complete a fire evacuation study for the Crest Canyon area in nine months as part of an effort to appease the proponents of a referendum that could overturn a recent zoning change.
A community workshop about that plan will be held in about three months, based on a request from the proponents that the city attorney announced during the council’s April 19 meeting.
Last year the City Council adopted a zoning ordinance that increased the density on the city’s North Commercial parcels, located off Jimmy Durante Boulevard, to 20 units an acre. Council members needed to approve the zoning change to fulfill a commitment made in the city’s housing element for the state’s fifth Regional Housing Needs Allocation.
Del Mar to resume utility undergrounding project
Del Mar City Hall
March 17, 2021 8:03 AM PT
Utility undergrounding will proceed in Del Mar after the long-awaited project was sidelined last year because of COVID-related budget cutbacks and staff reductions.
During their March 15 meeting, council members voted 4-1 to initiate and prioritize a Tewa Court/10th Street section of the utility undergrounding project, in addition to moving forward with two sections that had been selected before the pandemic, known as areas 1A and X1A.
In the coming months, the City Council will vote on resolutions to formally launch work on each of those three undergrounding sections.
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Five possible routes for moving the train tracks off the eroding Del Mar bluffs were outlined this week by regional transportation officials.
Four of the ideas involve twin sets of tracks drilled or bored through the ground as deep as 270 feet beneath the surface and up to a mile or more inland. The fifth alternative is a deep trench that follows Camino Del Mar, also known as Highway 101, below the roadway through the center of town.
“They are all costly alternatives,” said Linda Culp, a principal planner for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), which is leading the project.