SANDAG has big dreams, most of which will never come to fruition. Among these is their desire to build over 70 miles of bike lanes and pedestrian improvements throughout San Diego, which is, unsurprisingly, behind schedule and millions of dollars over budget.
Despite blaming “unforeseen delays” and “rising construction costs,” it can’t be ignored that SANDAG now has a budget $79 million higher than when it started, and is well behind schedule on these newer projects. We can’t expect much more from the horribly inept association at this point.
San Diego is an auto-centric city, so pushing the transition to public transit or carbon-free mobilization is much more difficult than just building new bike lanes and calling it a day. It’s a complicated, politically fraught task.
SANDAG has clashed with city planners, neighborhood residents, and its own staff over a consensus that works for everyone. They’re clearly demonstrating that their plans aren’t desired by constituents—with many having been entirely resented.
Some planned bicycle routes are dangerously close to busy corridors unsafe for riders, and others have been repeatedly redesigned to please residents. Other projects come at the expense of parking—a vital part of transportation around San Diego, especially in urban neighborhoods.
Despite these conflicts, SANDAG blindly pushes forward, with their success relying on some miracle situation in which bike ridership drastically increases overnight. The unnecessary and undesired plan only exemplifies how out of touch SANDAG is with San Diego citizens.
Though public transport, biking, and walking may be SANDAG’s dream, they need to work with the reality of the situation to create tangible change that benefits San Diegans, rather than virtue-signaling vague support for a “sustainable future.”
