TRANSIT: Feds award $1 billion grant to build San Diego trolley line

The San Diego Trolley extension to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) received a $1 billion grant Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Transportation in what was described as the largest public transit project in the history of the region.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant will cover about half the cost of the project, with the other half expected to be funded through a TransNet half-cent sales tax. The 11-mile Mid-Coast Trolley Extension will extend the existing Blue Line Trolley service from the Santa Fe Depot downtown into the University City area.

The announcement was made on the UCSD campus with FTA Acting Administrator Carolyn Flowers and officials from the San Diego Association of Government and Metropolitan Transit System.

The new trolley line will include nine new stations serving Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, the VA Medical Center, UCSD, the business and commercial districts along Genesee Avenue and the Westfield UTC shopping center. Groundbreaking is scheduled for Oct. 22, with project completion expected in 2021.