SANDAG BOARD APPROVES ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR CARDIFF RAIL TRAIL!

Big news today: The full SANDAG Board voted this morning to approve the additional funding required to build the Cardiff Rail Trail on the east side of the tracks as approved by the California Coastal Commission in early May.

The SANDAG Board approval follows a unanimous Transportation Committee vote on June 2, 2017 to recommend that the Board provide the additional dollars. While the Transportation Committee vote was an important step, the Board meeting was for all the marbles and was not a sure thing given SANDAG's diverse group of elected officials and cities. Our group turned out in force for both meetings with several speakers going on the record supporting the trail.

Now that the funding is approved, SANDAG will move quickly to secure all the final design and construction approvals and permits required to get started. This project is closer than ever before to becoming a reality. It's now fully funded (with enough money in the budget even if the ATP grant goes away), has been approved by the Coastal Commission, and has been endorsed by the City of Encinitas. With the alignment issue settled by the CCC, the City of Encinitas has graciously stepped back into the role of SANDAG partner.
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This was the last of the high-stakes public meetings and votes. After many, many years of twists and turns, leaps forward followed by huge reversals, a whole bunch of hard work, lots of waiting, buckets of angst, some good luck, and a tidal wave of goodwill from those of us who fought for it... the Cardiff Rail Trail is on its way.