The other side of the tracks is much closer now in Encinitas.
Leucadia, a busy beach neighborhood with shops, restaurants and homes next to Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, finally has its first bicycle and pedestrian rail crossing.
The underpass runs between North Coast Highway 101 and Vulcan Avenue, at the east end of El Portal Street. Previously, the only way to legally cross the parallel rails on North Coast Highway 101 was at one of the nearest street crossings, at Encinitas Boulevard or Leucadia Boulevard.
“This is a two-mile section that had no safe, legal passage,” Mayor Catherine Blakespear said during a Thursday, July 28, tour of the new underpass. “It’s a huge improvement. This provides a much better connection between neighborhoods.”
A ribbon cutting and opening ceremony for the Portal crossing is scheduled for August 6, but by Wednesday morning, July 27, people were already moving under the fresh concrete tracks.
“It’s really beautiful, and we’ve been waiting for a while,” said Ellen Riffenburgh, who was walking with her daughter Jasmine and her dog Aria.
“I live near here, and I’ll probably use it every day,” Riffenburgh said. “Normally it’s a pretty long run. With this, it’s really fast.”
Planning and design began about six years ago and construction took two years.
The underpass cost just over $12 million, with about $4 million coming from a state grant and most of the rest from the city’s general fund.
The west side of the underpass exits to a new roundabout at the intersection of El Portal and North Coast Highway 101. It is the first of four roundabouts that Encinitas plans to install as part of its Streetscape project, along with wider sidewalks, more parking, trees, benches and landscaping.
People have been crossing the tracks illegally, which city officials call “historic crossing without a permit,” since the railroad was built in the 1880s.
But trains are getting faster, quieter and more frequent as California encourages increased use of public transit. The North County Transit District, which operates the railroad, is installing security fencing along the tracks to prevent trespassing.
“This project is really a partnership between the city, the railroad and SANDAG,” said Sharon Humphreys, director of engineering and construction for the San Diego Association of Governments, the area’s regional planning agency.
“It was finished on time and on budget,” Humphreys said.
Also, the bridge built for the lower crossing has room to add a second set of tracks, he said. About three-quarters of the coastal route from Santa Fe Station in San Diego to the Orange County border has been doubled so far as part of the effort to increase rail capacity.
Encinitas has another railroad crossing that opened in 2013 at the foot of Santa Fe Drive near Swami’s Beach. This project, which also took years to complete, cost about $6 million.
Two more have been proposed, on Montgomery Avenue and Hillcrest Drive, although no construction has been scheduled so far.
