County updates Local Street Improvement Program

The first update in two years of San Diego County’s TransNet Local Street Improvement Program was approved during the Wednesday, April 10, San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting.

A 4-0 vote, with Terra Lawson-Remer absent, updated the list of projects which will be funded by TransNet local streets and roads revenue over the next five years. The update covers planned expenditures from fiscal year 2024-2025 to fiscal year 2028-2029.

In 2004, the county’s voters passed an extension of the half-cent TransNet sales tax which is divided between highways, transit and local streets and roads. The county expects to receive $203.6 million of TransNet revenue during the five-year period from fiscal year 2024-2025 to fiscal year 2028-2029.

The Regional Transportation Improvement Plan is coordinated by the San Diego Association of Governments, which administers the TransNet funding, and the RTIP includes the Local Street Improvement Program. The RTIP is updated every other year but amended on a quarterly basis. At one time the county updated its Local Street Improvement Program annually, but the April 10 update is the first since March 2022.

In 2015, the county amended its Local Street Improvement Program to add the Camino Del Rey drainage improvements which will upgrade the existing Bonsall drainage system to accommodate a 100-year flood. The work will raise a one-mile dip section out of the flood plain and install new drainage culverts.

The drainage improvements will eliminate ponding on the road during heavy rain which may cause vehicles to lose control when the roadway is flooded. The design will incorporate storm drain improvements, trash capturing devices, and biofiltration systems. The March 2022 update assumed completion of the project by the end of fiscal year 2024 and programmed $3,000,000 during fiscal year 2022-2023 and $3,155,000 for 2023-2024.

The update calls for $9,500,000 of future TransNet funding consisting of $2,000,000 in 2024-25 and $7,500,000 during 2025-2026. The additional $3,345,000 will cover final design and right-of-way acquisition as well as increased construction costs. The county’s Department of Public Works expects construction to begin during the January-March third quarter of fiscal year 2024-2025.

The county is now including road maintenance in its Local Street Improvement Program appropriations, and the 2022 plan had a five-year total of $28.55 million for roadway maintenance and overlay to fund road sealing, asphalt concrete overlays, sidewalk repairs and other pavement resurfacing or rehabilitation.

The total amount in the 2022 plan included $10,122,695 for the Fifth Supervisorial District. The update calls for $31.25 million of TransNet expenditures for road maintenance between fiscal year 2024-2025 and fiscal year 2028-2029 with $2,219,889 each year equating to a total of $11,099,446 for roads in the Fifth District.

The county’s annual cost share of $12,500 for the regional traffic signal management program is also included in the Local Street Improvement Program. That amount was unchanged from the 2022 plan.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].