Rail News – NCTD completes Phase 4 Del Mar Bluff stabilization project. For Railroad Career Professionals

The North County Transit District (NCTD) and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) last week completed the fourth phase of a stabilization project along the Del Mar Bluffs, which support a 1.7-mile section of passenger and freight railway in San Diego.

Phase 4 construction included the installation of additional support columns to stabilize local areas and sea walls, construction of a drainage channel along the top of the bluffs, and improvements to concrete channels and storm drain outfalls. The drainage infrastructure improvements will direct channel water across the bluffs and to the ocean, further reinforcing and protecting the bluffs.

The Del Mar Bluffs regularly experience erosion — roughly six inches per year on average — largely due to storm and irrigation runoff, as well as sea level rise. 

Phase 4 construction began in May 2020 and took seven months to complete.

Since 2003, SANDAG and NCTD have completed three stabilization projects along the Del Mar Bluffs between Coast Boulevard and Torrey Pines State Beach. To date, efforts include installation of more than 230 concrete and steel support columns and improvements to drainage infrastructure to protect the bluffs from future erosion.

Slated to begin in 2022, Phase 5 construction will address additional seismic and critical stabilization needs, including installing more support columns and replacing aging drainage structures.