Del Mar residents continue to stress their strong opposition to any plan that takes trains off the crumbling coastal bluffs and onto a new route through a tunnel underneath their homes.
They voiced their concerns again Monday after San Diego Association of Governments officials presented the latest developments for the decades-old proposal in an update to the Del Mar City Council. Many possible routes are being considered and a preferred route could be announced this spring, SANDAG officials said.
“This project will happen,” said interim SANDAG CEO Coleen Clementson. “We have a mandate from the state and federal governments to move the tracks off the bluff.”
The original railroad was built in 1881. Initially, the route went through the middle of Del Mar at what is now Stratford Court. In 1910, the tracks were moved to the cliff-like coastal bluffs, where the grade was less steep and there were fewer street crossings.