Proposed state Route 52 improvement project aims to ease congestion

Santee residents and East County commuters will get a look at a proposed improvement project for a 6-mile portion of state Route 52 during a meeting Thursday hosted by a state transportation agency.

Caltrans is studying potential improvements to SR-52 between Interstate 15 and state Route 125, including the Mast Boulevard Interchange. The project is in collaboration with the San Diego Association of Governments and the City of Santee.

Residents have been grappling with traffic congestion along SR-52 for years. Over seven years ago, a coalition of East County leaders and environmental groups was formed that was focused on addressing SR-52 issues.

The project proposes the addition of managed lanes, addressing bottlenecks and a relocated bike path.

The scope includes seven proposals:

• Convert the westbound #1 lane to a managed lane from Mast Boulevard to Santo Road.
• Convert the existing two-way bike path on the north side of the freeway to a 4.7-mile-long westbound auxiliary/truck climbing lane from Mast Boulevard to Santo Road.
• Relocate the bike path to the south side.
• Widen the westbound on-ramp from Mast Boulevard to SR-52 to a two-lane ramp.
• Restripe westbound SR-52 from 2 lanes to 3 lanes from SR-125 to Mast Boulevard.
• Restripe eastbound SR-52 from 2 lanes to 3 lanes from Mast Boulevard to east of the San Diego River Bridge, eliminating the lane drop at Mast Boulevard and maintaining three eastbound thru-lanes to SR-125.

Dan Howe has lived in Santee for six years and commutes to his office in Old Town multiple times a week.

He often takes alternate routes to avoid the bottlenecks on SR-52.

Restriping the westbound and eastbound parts of the SR-52 to add an additional lane are both good ideas that would likely be a “huge help” at preventing congestion, he said.

He also supports converting the bike path on the north side of the freeway into a truck climbing lane, noting that sharing the road with trucks often compounds the traffic issues.

However, Howe said he is against the proposed managed lane from Mast Boulevard to Santo Road.

“I know that would be unpopular for the obvious reasons, traffic is bad during the commute times and most people commuting are going to different places, they’re not carpooling,” Howe said. “Restricting who can use it is just probably going to make the situation worse.”

Managed lanes are typically either HOV lanes or carpool lanes, which he said would be a “hard sell” to East County residents.

He said it is especially important for government entities to weigh public input throughout the SR-52 improvement process because many Santee residents feel their voice “isn’t being heard.”

Gathering public input is part of the environmental phase of the highway improvement project, which began in summer of 2025 and is planned to finish in August 2028. Design is scheduled to begin in 2028 and construction is expected to be completed in summer of 2034.

Stephen Welborn, communications manager for Caltrans, said public comment on the project will be accepted through the entire environmental phase.

“Proposals are not set in stone at all; we are asking them to comment on those specific proposals and if there are additional proposals from the public we will take those as well,” Welborn noted.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Santee City Hall.

The public can submit comments in writing, by email or by clicking on the link listed on the Caltrans website by Dec. 29. Comments can be submitted in writing, by email or by clicking on the link listed on the Caltrans website.