San Diego Transportation

Underlying all components of the San Diego economy is a modern and well-maintained transportation system. Passage in and out of the region is provided by four major freeways running north and south, and four freeways running east and west. This complex system of freeways and surface streets makes it possible to go from one end of the City to the other in less than 30 minutes. But tell that to a commuter waiting to go home to Del Mar from Downtown San Diego or the UCSD professor frustrated by the time it takes just to get from Point Loma or Pacific Beach to La Jolla.

State Route 56 (SR 56) is now a major corridor linking I-5 at Del Mar / Carmel Valley and I-15 at Rancho Penasquitos. The 56 is a transportation improvement project recently completed by the Engineering and Capital Projects Department, improved mobility for residents and provided an additional safe corridor for east-west traffic. SR 56 is the only east-west freeway in the 25-mile gap between SR 78 and SR 52 in North San Diego County.

San Diego is served by the San Diego International Airport at Lindbergh Field, a major commercial airport that served 15.8 million passengers in 2000.

Besides its system of freeways and surface streets, the City, in cooperation with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB), has established a light-rail system that connects San Diego’s downtown with outlying communities in the eastern and southern portions of the county.

MTDB is currently in the process of extending the Mission Valley East Light Rail Transit. Trolley riders will soon be able to travel along a 5.9-mile corridor between the Mission San Diego Station in Mission Valley (just east of QUALCOMM Stadium) to a junction located at Baltimore Drive in La Mesa.

In addition to completing a loop of trolley lines around greater San Diego, the Mission Valley East extension will offer four new, conveniently located stops, including an underground station at San Diego State University, an elevated station at Grantville and ground-level stations at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center and 70th Street. Mission Valley East is slated for completion in 2005.

A 43-mile Coaster Commuter rail line from Oceanside to downtown San Diego came into service in 1995. This line links communities along the coast from Oceanside to Del Mar with downtown San Diego and is operated by the North County Transit District.

Traffic

The following chart illustrates the traffic congestion experienced in the San Diego, CA area. The chart also shows Anchorage, Ak and Los Angeles, Ca as a basis for comparisons. These two cities ranked the lowest and highest in traffic congestion, respectively, in 2000. This index is based on research developed at the Texas Transportation Institute in conjunction with Texas A&M. For more information please refer to: TTI Urban Mobility Study.

San Diego Traffic

Public Transportation

San Diego Transit Corporation 100 16th Street San Diego, CA 92101 619-238-0100

The following map illustrates those areas of San Diego that have easy access to public transportation. Easy access is defined as no more than a one-half mile walk from a bus route. Bus stop information is ignored. In cases of overlapping transit authorities, the transit system in review is shown in light purple and all other transit systems are shown in yellow. Source: Federal Transit Administration and Synergos Technologies, Inc.

San Diego Public Transportation