2. Description of the Application

The City is currently redeveloping twenty-six blocks of East Village area of downtown San Diego, in two closely related components. The centerpiece of the first component will be a new San Diego Padres baseball stadium (Ballpark), which will also be used for concerts, public gatherings, and convention-related activities. The Ballpark project will also include a park for the surrounding community that will also have views of the ball field for games. Sports-oriented retail and entertainment will also be present at and near the Ballpark. Parking facilities and infrastructure improvements will also occur around the Ballpark as it will result in several changes to the City traffic grid. Eighth Avenue, which currently intersects Harbor Drive, will be one of the five streets closed approximately five blocks north of Harbor Drive to allow for the Ballpark structure. The most notable street addition will be a new diagonal street, Park Boulevard, which will cross three blocks and connect what is currently called Twelfth Avenue to Harbor Drive. Approximately 10 blocks further north, Twelfth Avenue becomes Park Boulevard, which goes through Balboa Park, a 1,200-acre park with over 85 cultural and recreational organizations, including the San Diego Zoo. After redevelopment the entire street will be named Park Boulevard, and the City refers to Park Boulevard as creating a park to bay link for the City. Prior to interconnecting with Harbor Drive, the new Park Boulevard will pass in front of the new Ballpark and, about 120 feet from the Ballpark, cross several railroad and trolley tracks. This crossing is the subject of this application.

The second component of the redevelopment project is ancillary development projects around the new ballpark area. The City's environmental review assumed at least 850 hotel rooms, 600,000 square feet of office buildings, and at least 150,000 square feet of retail development.

As noted above, the City will be permanently closing the Eighth Avenue several blocks north of the current crossing. The proposed Park Boulevard crossing will be located approximately 70 feet southeast of the Eighth Avenue crossing. Between the location of the former Eighth Avenue crossing and the proposed Park Boulevard crossing, the track configuration changes slightly. Both crossings have three light rail or trolley tracks. One of the two heavy rail tracks at the Eighth Avenue, however, splits just west of the Park Boulevard crossing resulting in three heavy rail tracks at the Park Boulevard crossing. A Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) rail yard is located 500 feet east of the proposed crossing.

The proposed crossing will be one of seven at-grade crossings in San Diego, all of which have light and heavy rail tracks. These tracks go through San Diego's downtown bay front area, referred to as the bayside corridor. The San Diego Trolley Superintendent of Transportation testified that 163 trolley trains pass through the bayside corridor daily, with occasional special event service adding 10 to 20 trolleys. The North San Diego County Transit District ("Coaster") would have six trains pass through the corridor daily, Monday through Friday. Although the Coaster uses the trolley tracks, it is considered a heavy rail train. One BNSF train passes through the corridor each day, and eight each night. All of these trains are heavy rail freight trains. In addition, a short line railroad, the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railway Company operates one to two heavy rail trains daily through the corridor.

Park Boulevard crosses the six rail tracks and intersects Harbor Drive. The distance from the southernmost track and Harbor Boulevard is about 120 feet on the east side of the intersection. Four southbound lanes on Park Boulevard pass over the rail tracks and into the intersection with Harbor Drive. One lane turns left, one right, one straight through to the convention center, and one is a combined right turn and straight through lane. Two northbound lanes from the Harbor Drive intersection cross the tracks and proceed north on Park Boulevard.

The proximity between the rail crossing and the street intersection significantly complicates the crossing. Southbound traffic on Park Boulevard will be required to stop for a stoplight at Harbor Drive and must be prevented from queuing across the rail tracks. A similar problem does not occur northbound because the traffic will queue before crossing the tracks.

To prevent southbound Park Boulevard traffic from queuing across the tracks, the City has proposed to locate two presignal stoplights before the rail crossing. The stoplight at Harbor Drive will be coordinated with the presignals to ensure that any traffic queued on the tracks has ample time to clear before the arrival of the train.

The City has also proposed to install four quadrant gates and a vehicle detection system at the crossing. The purpose of four quadrant gates is to prevent vehicles from going around a closed gate by going the wrong way on the opposing traffic lanes.¹ Blocking all lanes, however, creates the possibility that vehicles could be trapped. The City has proposed installing a vehicle detection system to allow the exit gate to remain in the up position until the vehicles clear the crossing.

As a further impediment to drivers intent upon circumventing the gates, the City proposes to install raised medians with barrier hedges and fences. The raised median will be between the north and sound bound lanes, and will begin well before the crossing and extend to the intersection with Harbor Drive.

The City has proposed several safety measures to protect pedestrians using the crossing. A pedestrian bridge over the tracks and Harbor Drive is the most significant safety measure. To encourage use of the bridge, certain sidewalks will be eliminated and pedestrian barriers installed.

For major events at the Ballpark, including Padre games, the City is required as an environmental mitigation measure to develop, implement, and revise as needed, an Event Transportation Management Plan. This Plan provides that southbound Park Boulevard will be closed before, during, and after events. Traffic control officers will be stationed throughout the area of the Ballpark.