ENCINITAS: City broke ground for pedestrian underpass for train track crossing

Still, surfers, joggers, bikers, and pedistrians cross train tracks near the local and cool spots of Encinitas because the legal route involves a 1.3 mile walk south to Chesterfield Dr., or a more than half mile walk north to E street. Encinitas has broke ground FINALLY Jan 18th on a pedistrian underpass that will allow beachgoers to reach Highway 101 from the Cardiff Bluffs. Construction on the roughly $5 million project should take eight to nine months to finish. The concrete underpass will have a 9-foot pedestrian clearance, in accordance to Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, and be 30 feet wide. The height of the track, however, will not increase.

The Santa Fe Drive crossing is the first of four underpasses planned throughout Encinitas. The city and the North County Transit District partnered on the underpasses after a legal settlement between the two agencies in 2002 regarding adding a second track for passing through the 1.7 miles of railroad in Encinitas. Encinitas sues the transit district over its plan to add the track but lost in federal court. Justin Fornelli, the transit district chief rail engineer, said the Santa Fe Drive under pass was chosen first due to its location near Swami's and the volume of track crossing.

The three other locations are near Grandview and Beacons beaches in Leucadia, and at Montgomery Avenue in Cardiff. The total cost of all four projects is $25.5 million, but funding is not secured for the remaining three. The Santa Fe Drive underpass will be paid for with $1.2 million from Encintas, $3 million from the San Diego Association of Governments, and $1.25 million in state grants, Phillips said. (condensed from North Coast/ U-T San Diego (Jan, 2012, Jonathan Horn)