Investing in Our Transportation Infrastructure

A Vision for the Future

Using Our Resources Wisely

Working With Our Neighbors

Information and Technology

Public Safety

Streamlining Decisions

Focus on the Future

The San Diego Region

The SANDAG Board of Directors

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Using Our Resources Wisely

The region has made great strides in monitoring and maintaining the region’s shoreline, increasing options for alternative energy resources, and preserving our natural environment.

SANDAG worked with the California Department of Boating and Waterways to develop the Sand Compatibility and Opportunistic Use Program (SCOUP). The SCOUP is a component of the California Coastal Sediment Management Master Plan, which looks at regional approaches to protecting, enhancing, and restoring California's coastal beaches and watersheds through federal, state and local cooperative efforts. The SCOUP will provide protocols and templates for a generic regional opportunistic sand program, which would aid local jurisdictions in the process of placing sand from opportunistic sources, such as construction and other dredging projects, on the region’s beaches. The SCOUP will be used throughout California based on a pilot sand replenishment approach currently being applied to South Oceanside Beach in the San Diego region.

Significant progress was made in preserving and protecting the environment through the passage of TransNet. A unique component of the TransNet extension is the creation of an environmental mitigation program (EMP). The EMP goes beyond traditional mitigation for regional and local transportation projects. While the EMP includes an allocation for the estimated direct costs for mitigation of upland and wetland habitat impacts for regional and local transportation projects, it also includes additional funding for habitat acquisition, management, and monitoring activities. The EMP will help implement the Multiple Species Conservation Program and the Multiple Habitat Conservation Program.

SANDAG has been asked to expand its role in implementing the Regional Energy Strategy (RES). A new Energy Working Group has been established by SANDAG to move forward to implement the strategy’s energy policy and action plan. It contains specific objectives for increased opportunities for energy development, energy efficiency, renewable resources and large and small scale, highly efficient electric generation facilities. While this initiative remains subject to the acquisition of funding, increased efforts in these areas will create substantial economic and environmental benefits for the region.