A picnic was held for the groundbreaking of the new Mid-Coast trolley line in the UTC area Saturday.
The five-year construction plan will be the largest transit project in San Diego. The project will extend trolley service from Old Town to UC San Diego and University City, adding nine new stations.
The project costs $2.1 billion, and will be funded half by the federal government and half by a local sales tax.
"This is a huge jobs generator,” Jim Linthicum, Director of Mobility for SANDAG, said at the picnic. “You have all the high tech jobs, you have the university, you have all the health care facilities up here, three hospitals, so the trolley is now going to connect all those to the better communities in Southbay and East County."
There will be sporadic road closures along Genesee in the UTC area during construction.
Estimated completion for the project is 2021.
