San Diego City Councilmembers recently approved spending $2.2 million to turn an alley at the end of B Street leading to the Santa Fe Depot into a pedestrian corridor.
The renovation project, which has been delayed for decades, is now a reality, with construction set to begin in September to create more pedestrian-friendly access from Kettner Boulevard to the trolley and train platforms.
Currently, the 100-foot alleyway at the north end of the Santa Fe Depot baggage building that commuters walk through to enter and exit the station allows vehicle traffic, has no sidewalk and is poorly lit.
West B Street alleyway next to Santa Fe Depot. (Photo by Adrian Childress/Times of San Diego)The city promised “new paving, lighting and landscape walls” to increase pedestrian safety and improve the corridor, and it estimates project completion by May 2027, according to a city staff report.
The $2.2 million cost for this project will not come from the city’s general fund, but will instead be covered mainly by a property tax trust fund for city redevelopment.
This B Street Pedestrian Corridor is a project that dates back to 2002, when ownership of the Santa Fe Depot was transferred to the city, requiring the city’s redevelopment agency to install a public pathway.
After the building was sold to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the redevelopment agency was still responsible for building the pathway, with the museum obligated to contribute $150,000 toward costs.
When redevelopment agencies were dissolved by the state in 2012, construction obligations were transferred to successor agencies.
The corridor project was passed on to Civic San Diego, which was then a city-owned nonprofit that developed much of downtown. It is now reorganized as an independent public benefit company after being sued in 2019.
It wasn’t until 2024, when the City Council approved the museum’s sale of the baggage building to the University of California Regents, that the city confirmed its commitment to building the pedestrian passage and ensured the museum paid its $150,000 contribution.
Now, with an official project timeline, it seems the decades-long saga of agency changes, land sales and delayed obligations may finally be over.
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