San Diego Regional Transportation Plan Shifts Away From Big Projects to Focus on Improving Existing Infrastructure

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) issued its 2025 Regional Plan, outlining spending priorities for the next four years.

As Jake Gotta explains for KPBS, “This new plan retreats from some of the high expectations and big ideas from the 2021 Regional Plan, including the proposed Purple Line and an airport trolley. Instead, SANDAG is focusing on improving systems that already exist today.”

SANDAG leaders say the approach is scaled down to align with funding  and focus on projects that are achievable in the shorter term, such as expanding the region’s bus rapid transit network with 40 new routes. “The Regional Plan also incorporates a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) as required by state law. A primary goal of this SCS is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19% by 2035 compared to a 2005 baseline.”

The agency plans to spend over $72 billion on transit including the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (SDMTS) bus and trolley service, North County Transit District (NCTD) COASTER, SPRINTER and BREEZE busses, and building or improving infrastructure for those agencies’ routes, including the LOSSAN corridor on which Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner operates. The plan also includes $5.5 billion for bikeways and $206 million for microtransit.