The good news from last week’s SANDAG Board of Directors meeting was that the directors apparently heard the public’s outrage over any fee or taxation plan that would include raising the cost of your drive.
One of SANDAG’s proposed funding ideas is to tax each mile you drive — specifically, 4 cents extra per mile. If you commute 100 miles each day, that would be an additional cost to work of around $1,000 each year.
Fortunately, any new taxes require approval by the voters. After the board voted to the 2021 Regional Plan they immediately voted to explore other options for funding this “Bold New Vision;” other options that would be more “equitable” for everyone. (See story on 8.)
The bad news is that at the board meeting the plan that will direct state Route 67’s future was given a vote to proceed and the specific changes reported in the plan will not correct the current and ongoing dangerous drive on the highway. Our residents, workers and visitors are being given a lukewarm, urban-oriented solution to our highway safety issues.
Here are a few examples of the solutions we are being offered through SANDAG’s plan:
To be built by 2025 is the $26 million Smart Intersections System. The Active Transportation and Demand Management system will cost $74 million and be completed by 2035. An accompanying shoulder-widening project will cost another $206 million.
Together these two systems will improve our lives by allowing technology to tell you which lane to choose during certain times of the day (and possibly charging you for your lane choice), allowing for emergency responders to have a dedicated lane in an emergency, to reverse the flow of traffic in an emergency, and finally, to allow the use of the highway shoulder as an extra lane in the event of an emergency.
This is a mixed bag of changes that ultimately do not address the overall deficient structure of this obsolete highway and the inherent dangers in our daily travel. The addition of a shoulder where the highway narrows, instead of completing the highway as four lanes (two lanes in each direction for the entire stretch of the highway, with a center divide to prevent head-on collisions) is a new Band-Aid on an old wound.
Rural drivers, visiting drivers and commuters deserve the highway they have paid for through their tax dollars. Giving SR-67 drivers an opportunity to “shoot the gap” by Mina De Oro in an emergency by adding a shoulder does not address the overall highway deficiency. And, it is not respectful or equitable to our community.
Should we be content with the “bone” being thrown our way to solve our highway’s neglected status while down the hill others will be enjoying a state-of- the-art transportation system — partially funded by our tax dollar contributions?
SANDAG’s Board of Directors is comprised of many reasonable, thoughtful and conscientious . As the experts of SR-67, here is what you can do to help SANDAG understand that a safe Highway 67 is a safe highway for all San Diego County drivers.
You can help SANDAG understand that significant change is possible and expected for SR-67 — that SANDAG can and should respect all communities and include changes to our roadway that are worthy of a “Bold New Vision.”
Send an email to SANDAG with your comments to: [email protected]
Robin Joy Maxson is chair of the Ramona Community Planning Group
