Transportation Experts Address Rail Service for
I-15 Corridor
By Mary-Ellen (Elena) Garcia
The dream of traveling quickly and efficiently between Ontario and
San Diego on a publicly-funded rail service is, it seems, tantalizingly
possible but also challenging to implement. This seems to be the logical
conclusion of a half-day workshop held on October 27, 2017, sponsored by the
Santa Margarita Group of the Sierra Club. Michael Momeni, Ph.D., workshop
organizer, gathered a panel of four experts to address various aspects of such
a commuter rail system, including its technical, political, and economic
issues. What follows here is a summary of their remarks.
John Rogers, P.E., F.ASCE Los Angeles Section President, addressed
the geotechnical considerations of such a project. If a rail line of 106 miles
were projected, connecting Rancho Cucamonga and Mission Valley (San Diego), the
line would intersect with 9 freeways or highways; 97 highways or watercourse
crossings and three railroad crossings. Ideally it would connect
destination hubs between the two end points, such as San Bernardino, Riverside,
Corona and so on. Considerations for riders to get to and from the line would
include issues such as parking a vehicle, using local public transportation,
and ride sharing, to name a few. Right-of-way issues would include the fact
that freeway medians could only support either light- or high-speed rail, but
not both. Further, stations on medians would need to provide elevators or
stairs for passengers and access from and to parking or loading/unloading
areas. Final considerations were the geological realities found along the
1-15 corridor, such as earthquake fault lines, landslide areas, soil
liquefaction, potential for dam inundation and seismic settlement. This
presentation included 17 maps showing where there were potential locations for
different types of these geologic constraints.
John Standiford, Deputy
Executive Director for the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC),
spoke about the next generation rail study and the countywide long-range
transportation plan. The RCTC is a member of the Southern California Rail
Authority, or MetroLink, and is collaborating with the CalTrans Division of
Rail on the Coachella Valley-San Gorgonio Pass Rail Study, which will identify
and prioritize rail investments through 2040. The goal of the study is to
provide daily train service between Los Angeles’s Union Station and the
Coachella Valley. Currently a service development plan is being studied, with anticipated
approval by NEPA/CEQA in 2019. The Next Generation Rail Study hopes to identify
other high-traffic corridors in the county and to discuss alternative
transportation technologies for investment and infrastructure implementation.
Steve Fox, Senior Regional Planner for the Southern California
Association of Governments (SCAG), discussed the Los Angeles-San Bernardino
Inter-County Transit and Rail Connectivity Study. Significant improvements in
rail service and highway infrastructure are already underway or are being
planned for the inter-county corridor. L.A. Metro and the San Bernardino
Transportation Authority have joined in this study with a number of goals, one
seeking to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of providing both light
rail and commuter rail service in the same corridor. Another is to make sure
that transportation planning benefits residents of San Bernardino County and
serves the Ontario Airport. An overarching goal, subsuming interim study
objectives, is to determine the optimum mix of commuter rail, light rail, BRT,
and express bus in the corridor. Fleshing out various aspects of the study,
slides detailed the inter-county objectives, travel market analysis and
transportation alternatives and also presented several maps of potential configurations.
The last speaker was Michelle Boehm, Southern California Regional
Director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, who spoke on high-speed
rail development from Ontario to San Diego. The Authority is responsible for
planning, designing, building and operating the high-speed rail system, which
will run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours. It
will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, 800 miles in all. It will
connect all major population centers in California, tie local economies
together, provide new mobility options, establish long-term economic growth,
and help revitalize station areas.
The Los Angeles to San Diego project section via the Inland Empire
is part of Phase 2 of the California High-Speed Rail system. It will connect
Los Angeles and San Diego in just 1 hour 20 minutes, and close the existing
passenger rail gap between the Inland Empire and San Diego County. This system
will use 100% renewable energy, virtually eliminating emissions and improving
air quality. Routing alternatives along the approximately 170-mile corridor are
currently being evaluated. Stations are being considered in locations including
Ontario Airport, San Bernardino, Riverside, Corona, Murrieta, Escondido, and
San Diego. The various aspects of the projects, including maps, economic
impacts, small business participation, and increased job opportunities, are
detailed in the many slides that illustrate her presentation.
Organizer Momeni, Chair of the Transportation Task Force for the
Santa Margarita Group, advocates commuter rail for the Inland Empire as he
writes:” It would stimulate economic development within the corridor. It would
reduce the use of Interstate 15/215 by single commuters. It would link to
the existing commuter train services both in San Diego and Los Angeles
counties. It would improve air quality within the region by removing a
large number of commuter cars from the highways. It would improve the safety
and quality of life for commuters.” It was not surprising that his dream
was supported by much of what had been covered when the workshop wrapped up at
2:00 pm.
For more information on speakers and copies of the slides used in
their presentations, see:
