Skip to main content

Transit hub promised in San Diego area

San Diego North County’s Interstate 15 corridor is best known for its flood of freeway traffic, not its mass transit stations. This is due to change next year, when the Sabre Springs/Penasquitos transit station, just east of I-15 on Sabre Springs Parkway, is set to undergo a US$12.2 million face-lift that will include a four-storey parking garage, electric vehicle charging stations, electronic next bus signs and even some smart parking spaces. “This will be our flagship station,” said Frank Owsiany, who ov
January 18, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
San Diego North County’s Interstate 15 corridor is best known for its flood of freeway traffic, not its mass transit stations.  This is due to change next year, when the Sabre Springs/Penasquitos transit station, just east of I-15 on Sabre Springs Parkway, is set to undergo a US$12.2 million face-lift that will include a four-storey parking garage, electric vehicle charging stations, electronic next bus signs and even some smart parking spaces.

 “This will be our flagship station,” said Frank Owsiany, who oversees station improvements along the inland corridor for the 1789 San Diego Association of Governments, the region’s transportation planning agency.

Construction on what is said to be the ultimate I-15 transit hub, is expected to begin by late February or early March and should last about a year, Owsiany said.

The project is timed to be ready for the early 2014 launch of an expanded rapid bus service along I-15. That service promises to increase the frequency and shorten the routes of express buses that ferry passengers from stations in Escondido, Rancho Bernardo and other points south along the I-15 Express Lanes to job centers in Sorrento Valley and downtown San Diego.

The Sabre Springs project will require the closure of the station’s 150 parking spaces, which will be temporarily replaced at three park and rides along Sabre Springs Parkway. Owsiany said the station ramps that connect drivers to the freeway’s express lanes will remain open during construction.

Once complete, the parking garage will offer 537 spaces to go along with 93 additional surface lot spaces. Solar panels will be added on top of the structure, providing shade for cars on the top level, as well as providing a power source, he said.

Owsiany added that drivers will be able to call and reserve smart parking spots inside the station, where stalls will be lighted either green or red to show whether they have been reserved.

Related Content

  • September 16, 2020
    Opinion: Have we missed our moment to reinvent mass transport?
    We need to focus on providing better mass transportation services during the COVID-19 pandemic - and work out how to help travellers to rapidly regain confidence in using them as lockdowns end
  • November 26, 2013
    US transportation secretary announces loan for Atlanta NW corridor project
    US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx has announced a Transportation Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan for US$275 million to build new reversible lanes along I-75 and I-575. The 29.7-mile-long project will relieve congestion along the heavily trafficked corridor during morning and evening peak periods. The loan will go toward the US$833.7 million total cost of the project. The corridor has long been recognised as one of the Atlanta region’s most congested travel corridors with over 4
  • November 9, 2012
    US ushers in reforms with new transportation bill
    On behalf of ITS America, Paul Feenstra maps out implications and opportunities for the ITS industry. A critical milestone was reached last month when the US Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation reauthorising the nation’s surface transportation programmes, breaking a nearly three-year log-jam which had stymied critical transportation reforms and delayed much-needed infrastructure projects. The law, numbered P.L. 112-141 but known as MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century),
  • January 20, 2012
    Camera lowering poles aid maintenance, cut costs
    It was while on vacation in Providence, Rhode Island that Jim Larsen had a Eureka! moment