SUBJECT:

CONSTRUCTION ALERT – SANDAG Mid-Coast Corridor Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project

Project Description/Location:

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is proposing a project which, when environmentally cleared and approved, will extend the San Diego Blue Line Trolley from the Santa Fe Depot northerly up to and across UC San Diego to a terminus station at the UTC Transit Center. The project, called the Mid-Coast Corridor Light Rail Transit Project, or LRT, envisions two stations at UC San Diego (one at Pepper Canyon and one near Preuss School/Thornton Hospital and Scripps Hospital). This trolley expansion would include a total of 9 new stations including one near the VA Medical Center. The San Diego Blue Line Trolley is expected to be operational late 2018 or early 2019. The campus community, through workgroups, public meetings, and interested faculty, staff and students, has worked closely with SANDAG since 2010 on this new alternative transportation mode that continues to demonstrate UC San Diego’s desire and support for greater sustainability and an improved environment.

As part of the LRT planning and project development, SANDAG will have consultants/contractors performing field investigative work in certain areas of the campus. The work will entail crews conducting a process called “utility potholing” and geotechnical borings. This activity occurs early in project development to verify locations of existing underground utilities and physical properties of the soils which could affect elements of the engineering. Any holes created as part of this process will be refilled with the surface areas restored to prior condition following the process of gathering the data. If work will be conducted in a street, approved traffic control will be utilized. If work will occur behind a curb, or within a sidewalk area, pedestrian access may be affected temporarily and measures will be taken to provide advance warning. In addition to the “utility potholing” and geotechnical borings work, survey crews will be on site to document existing conditions.

Utility potholing work and geotechnical boreholes will begin July 21, 2014 and should be finished by mid-September 2014.

The primary hours of work will be between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.; however, earlier start times or later end times may occur as well as some weekend work.

Traffic, Bike Lane and Pedestrian Impacts:

Traffic control measures will be in place for locations where the work will occur in a street, but no total closure of any street will occur, and one lane will remain open in each direction at all times.

Bike lanes could be temporarily impacted by traffic control for the work within a street, but the duration for such an impact will be brief – typically one day.

Pedestrians may be directed to adjacent walkways if work requires such a routing change. Areas impacted by the work will not be simultaneous and each location will be interrupted for a short duration (less than a day).

Additional information can be found in the links below which are best viewed with Internet Explorer.

Please view the area map at:
http://rmp-public.ucsd.edu/fdc/Alerts/MCLRTPotholing_Geotech_070814.pdf

Project information: http://www.sandag.org/midcoast

Sign up for email notification of Mid-Coast Project updates at http://www.sandag.org/midcoast

SANDAG Project Manager: Greg Gastelum, (619) 699-7378 or greg.gastelum@sandag.org

SANDAG Engineering Lead: Frank Owsiany, (619) 699-6948 or frank.owsiany@sandag.org

Wet Utility Consultant: Brad Miller, Parsons Brinckerhoff, (619) 525-8384 (daytime); (760) 809-7122 (after hours) or millerbm@pbworld.com

Dry Utility Consultant: Darwin Cruz, Dokken Engineering, (858) 514-8377 or dcruz@dokkenengineering.com

Geotechnical Borings: Kevin Crennen, Kleinfelder, (858) 320-2209 or KCrennan@kleinfelder.com

Bus schedule: 511sd.com/transit

Follow SANDAG
Facebook: SANDAGregion
Twitter: @SANDAG

If you have any questions please contact Project Manager Robin Tsuchida (rktsuchida@ucsd.edu) at (858) 534-1978 or Project Specialist Jeanne Rawlings (jrawlings@ucsd.edu) at (858) 822-2983. We greatly appreciate your patience during these construction activities.

Wm. Joel King, AIA Assistant Vice Chancellor Campus Architect