East County residents are pushing regional transportation planners to make safety and evacuation needs central to a long-range plan for state Route 94, according to East County Magazine.

The San Diego Association of Governments is preparing a Comprehensive Multimodal Corridor Plan for SR-94, a process that looks toward 2050 and evaluates congestion, vehicle miles traveled, greenhouse gas emissions, transit, active transportation and safety improvements. The corridor runs from downtown San Diego east through Lemon Grove, La Mesa and Spring Valley into unincorporated East County, with the eastern end near Jamul Indian Village.

At a May 19 Jamul Dulzura Community Planning Group meeting, residents and planning group members raised concerns about evacuation capacity, outdated planning data, public safety and whether transit-focused goals match the realities of rural East County travel. SANDAG officials told the group the agency is gathering feedback and expects community input to help shape proposed solutions.

For Santee residents, the issue is not just a Jamul road project. SR-94 is part of the broader East County network used for regional trips, emergency detours and backcountry access, and evacuation planning on one major corridor can affect pressure on nearby routes during fires or major incidents.

SANDAG is expected to continue collecting feedback before returning to the public with proposed solutions later in the planning process, East County Magazine reported.