Review of the Data, Methods, and Assumptions of SANDAG’s 2021 Regional Plan for Transportation

In December 2021, The San Diego Association of Governments’ (SANDAG’s) 2021 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) was passed by the SANDAG Board as an update of the broad 40 year plan published in October 2011 outlining the vision through 2050. The RTP requires $163 billion through 2050 to reshape San Diego’s transportation system. As such, between now and 2024, San Diego voters will see numerous proposals and ballot measures come before them proposing taxes and fees to support this extensive transportation infrastructure plan. We thought it was important to assess the data, methods and assumptions SANDAG used to complete the 2021 RTP so that San Diego County taxpayers know what they can trust to make their own informed decisions on tax or fee proposals related to the RTP.

While the underlying data, methods, and assumptions in the RTP are generally reasonable, the Foundation assesses there are significant risks that we need to acknowledge today. The San Diego region should not be surprised in future years to see a repeat of what we see today, where different communities in the region were unaware of the risks accepted years ago and then express disappointment that projects in their neighborhood did not come to fruition. We encourage readers to visit these concepts in greater detail in the full report.