Tunnel Vision

The Coronado Tunnel Commission met on September 10 to discuss the next step in their proposal to build a 1.4-mile underground tunnel that would redirect military traffic between the bay bridge and North Island naval base. The tunnel would minimize the impact of traffic that funnels into the community from the bridge. Resistance to the plan has come from the Navy (which cites concerns about terrorism), residents, and non-residents employed in Coronado, who would help pay for the project with a minimum five-dollar toll. “It’s an eye-opener on how much resistance there is,” said Tom Ritter, the new assistant city manager, describing his introduction to the project. Ritter replaces Jim Benson, a tunnel supporter who argued that Coronado’s congestion problem is San Diego’s problem as well. What Ritter calls “a very interesting half-a-billion-dollar project” has yet to receive any outside funding, yet the commission has inched along and nearly completed the environmental phase of the project. Completion now depends on the Navy and Caltrans reaching consensus on option 4B, in which the tunnel would open off-base. Read the entire San Diego Reader article here.