UTC is the terminus of the Mid-Coast UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley Extension, a completely grade separated from vehicular traffic (each station still has pedestrian grade-crossings) 11 mile trolley extension that opened on November 21, 2021, costing $2.1 billion. The station isn’t the most northern stop on the Blue Line, that distinction goes to UCSD Health La Jolla Station, but is located on a north-south access, in the opposite direction from Downtown San Diego. Downtown-bound trains heading north before curving west and then heading south with the 6 stops in the UCSD area of La Jolla forming a ∩ shape. The station primarily services the shopping mall Westfield UTC, and a Transit Center. The transit center including the parking garage across from the station opened in 2017.
The terminal station is located on a concrete arial elevated structure in the median of Genesee Avenue between the two arterial roads of La Jolla Village Drive and Nobel Drive. The station has two side platforms for the two track trolley line with a fence running between the tracks, at either end of the side platforms each platform dips down to track-level for a pedestrian level crossing, connecting the two platforms.
The station is designed with a X-universal crossover just north (Downtown-bound) of the station platforms. Trains can terminate on either track, and the next departing train to Downtown and San Ysidro/International Border can depart from either track. To indicate which platform is for the next departing train, the San Diego trolley uses a simple solution of yellow Sandwich Boards with signs on them zip tied to each platform indicating that Trolleys departing on the :18 and :48 depart from track 1, and :03 and :33 depart from track 2.The signs also say, the next departing trolley should also have it’s lights flashing.
For exits each platform has two short bridges out from the elevated structure across half the traffic lanes of Genesee Avenue. From Track 2, the northern bridge leads to a staircase, and the southern bridge leads to two elevators, each in their own separate glass elevator shafts and a staircase down to the west side of Genesee Avenue just south of Esplanade Court.
From Track 1, two bridges lead across and connect to the top level, level 4, of a parking garage for the Westfield Mall. The Mall garage provides limited trolley and bus passenger parking on Level 2, which is paid at about $15 a day (the first 2 hours of parking are free, designed with visitors to the mall in mind). To access the Mall, passengers must walk through the upper level of the parking garage to a door into Nordstroms or descend to a lower-level via stairs or an elevator to each of the other mall levels. The southern bridge connects to a newer elevator bank, built with the trolley station and provides closer access to the Transit Center’s bus bays. The northern half of the Transit Center’s bus bays are located beneath level 1 of the parking garage, with the southern half of the bays located in the open air.
Photos 1-28: July 25, 2022
Execitive Drive