The Del Mar Fairgrounds chief executive officer sent regional planners a letter this week opposing the Del Mar City Council’s recent request to delay construction of a fully funded $350 million bridge that will replace the century-old San Dieguito railroad trestle.
The San Diego Association of Governments is scheduled to start building the bridge in early 2026 after years of planning, along with a second set of tracks and a special platform that will allow train passengers to disembark for events at the fairgrounds.
“We are alarmed by the direction given at a recent Del Mar City Council (meeting) to request that SANDAG delay the … bridge replacement, double-tracking, and special events rail platform due to their well-publicized concerns over the larger LOSSAN realignment project,” states the Jan. 14 letter from fairgrounds CEO Carlene Moore to SANDAG CEO Mario Orso.
The train tracks through Del Mar are part of the 351-mile Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) rail corridor, which is San Diego’s only link to Los Angeles and the rest of the United States. They are used by Amtrak, the Coaster and BNSF freight trains, and are part of the Defense Department’s national Strategic Rail Corridor Network.
In addition to the new bridge, SANDAG is working on a much larger, long-term plan to realign about 1.7 miles of track off the eroding Del Mar coastal bluffs. Del Mar residents and city officials have opposed any realignment that would take trains through a proposed tunnel beneath the city. The bridge is near an entry portal for the most likely tunnel routes being studied.
The 22nd District Agricultural Association, also known as the fair board, stands firmly behind the bridge, double-tracking and platform project, Moore said Tuesday.
“Through its unanimously passed resolution in February 2024, our board proclaimed that the 22nd DAA’s ‘top public transportation priority is the swift construction of a seasonal rail platform that will reduce vehicular traffic during major events at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, thereby improving local air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Moore said in her letter.
“We have received the letter from the 22nd DAA and are reviewing it,” a SANDAG spokesperson said Wednesday. “Any action to delay the San Dieguito Double Track and Special Events Platform project would need to be considered and approved by the SANDAG Board of Directors.”
The SANDAG board next meets Jan. 24. Agency officials have said previously that any delay could mean losing millions of dollars already allocated for the bridge, and it could require SANDAG to pay back money previously allocated for other rail projects.
Del Mar has pushed for SANDAG to focus on a realignment that would take the tracks around the city, through Solana Beach and the fairgrounds, even though that route would be more costly and time-consuming, and it would make the new bridge obsolete.
“We understand and can appreciate the position that the Del Mar City Council is in, and we respect that the City Council may perceive further delay of this vital project as something that is in the best interests of their 4,000 residents,” Moore said in the letter.
“We also believe that delay would be harmful to the 3.3 million people who live elsewhere in San Diego County; the nearly 2 million people who enjoy events and activities annually at the fairgrounds; the fairgrounds’ nearby neighborhoods in San Diego, Del Mar, and Solana Beach who are impacted by major event traffic at the fairgrounds; the nearly 32 million annual guests to San Diego County whose visits to the region generate jobs and economic activity; and any commuters and LOSSAN rail users, including the United States military, who rely on the second-busiest rail corridor in the nation to make their lives and livelihoods,” she said.
Moore informed the fair board at its meeting Tuesday that the letter had been sent and emphasized the need to proceed with the bridge project.
Board President Fred Schenk said he and Moore recently met with state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and that Blakespear had been “adamant” about her support for the project.
As chair of the senate’s Transportation Subcommittee on LOSSAN Rail Corridor Resiliency, Blakespear has sought to revitalize the rail corridor with better management, more frequent service and better support for improvement and maintenance projects.
