Old Town to Downtown Rail and Multimodal Corridor Study

STATUS: In Progress: Planning

Project Overview

Pacific Highway and the LOSSAN Corridor are two critical transportation arteries in the Old Town to Downtown San Diego corridor. This project will carefully consider existing planned projects and enhancements in this area while also exploring new solutions. The Old Town to Downtown Rail and Multimodal Corridor Study (OT2DT) consists of two related projects:

  • Pacific Highway Multimodal Access Corridor (PacMAC): This project will develop and assess various transportation solutions along Pacific Highway between Sea World Drive and Grape Street in the City of San Diego. Solutions such as transit priority and traffic safety improvements can enhance mobility and restore local travel connections between San Diego’s oldest communities.
  • San Diego At-Grade Crossings Elimination Study (SD-ACES): Between Taylor Street in Old Town San Diego and West Ash Street in Downtown San Diego, there are 11 at-grade rail crossings where vehicle traffic and trains traveling the LOSSAN Corridor must share space. This project will analyze opportunities to separate rail and vehicle traffic at crossings and explore potential configurations.

Together, these two projects seek to increase safety in the area and improve the connection between Old Town and Downtown San Diego. These are the primary goals of the study:

  • Provide safe and accessible routes for people who walk, ride bikes, take transit, and drive by removing or mitigating common points of conflict.
  • Increase transportation network capacity to accommodate additional rail transit frequency.
  • Integrate both the road and rail systems into a cohesive and efficient multimodal community connection.
Map showing the project area for the Pacific Highway Multimodal Access Corridor (PacMAC) project. It includes an area encompassing I-5 and Pacific Highway from Downtown San Diego in the south to Mission Bay Park in the north. It designates the project limits, existing bikeways, planning bikeways, proposed redevelopment sites (including Sports Arena and NAVWAR), light rail and light rail stations, and inter-city/commuter freight rail and rail stations. 
Map showing the project area for the San Diego At-Grade Crossing Elimination Study. It includes an area encompassing I-5 and Pacific Highway from Downtown San Diego in the south to Mission Bay Park just north of I-8. It designates rail crossings, light rail, light rail stations, inter-city/commuter/freight rail and rail stations in the area. There is also a callout and a note showing that this map reflects the redrawn congressional districts that took effect in January 2023 when the 118th Congress convened. The map extent is within U.S. Congressional District 50. 

Schedule

As of 2026, this project is in the early stages of planning. We are analyzing existing conditions, soliciting public and partner feedback, and developing alternatives. We expect to complete near-term and longer-term conceptual engineering work in summer 2028, at which point the project will advance into environmental clearance.

Budget

The PacMAC project has $2,529,825 of Federal Highway Administration Surface Transportation Block Grant Program funding. The SD-ACES project has $1,871,000 in combined funding from the Federal Transit Administration’s Urbanized Area Formula Funding program, the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, and TransNet Major Corridors.

Connect with Us

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Resources

Related Documents

Pacific Highway Concepts from Urban Core+Connections Report

Related Pages