It seems that even a global pandemic can’t stop SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata from spending. SANDAG’s new “Big Bold Vision” for a public transit powered future gained an official price tag recently, totaling a hefty $177 billion. County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a representative on the SANDAG Board of Directors, expressed his position on the plan.
Desmond is especially concerned of the usefulness of a countywide upgrade to transit. “Currently, the number of people who use transit in San Diego County pre-COVID was about 3%,” said Desmond. “Even if we increase that fivefold, it still leaves 85% of San Diegans still using roads and freeways.”
The International Space Station cost, $150 billion.
The Three Gorges Dam (largest in the world) cost $32 billion.
SANDAG's Big Bold Moves estimated cost, $177 billion!https://t.co/CHzX2LWleM
— Supervisor Jim Desmond (@jim_desmond) August 10, 2020
SANDAG somewhat anticipated a lack of enthusiasm for the upgrades, which is why the second part of the plan was to tax roads and freeways while making road upgrades nothing more than a fantasy. SANDAG’s transportation vision strips the promised HOV lanes on the 78, the 52, and the second HOV lane on the I-5 North to the 78, which taxpayers have already had their money put towards. The new vision also eliminates needed fire evacuations lanes along the 67, which is a recipe for disaster during the dry season. In the 2004 TransNet tax, we were promised these improvements, but they never came.
Ikhrata is only digging deeper into the wallets of taxpayers—many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet—for their sinking initiative. Construction costs aggregated over the years of the project would also cost about $440 billion, and we’d be left with a transit system that would never pay itself off.
Thankfully, in conjunction with County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, who also serves on the SANDAG Board of Directors, Demond is fighting for accountability and transparency. “I agree, we have to get better transportation options to San Diego County, but we have to do it as a region that has transit and road opportunities,” Desmond concluded.
