Construction along University Avenue has exposed sections of old steel streetcar rail that had been buried beneath the roadway for decades, offering a rare physical glimpse of the transit network that once connected Hillcrest with downtown San Diego and neighborhoods across the city. The discovery was recently highlighted by the Hillcrest Business Association, which shared images of the uncovered tracks alongside historic photographs of packed streetcars traveling through the neighborhood.
The rails are remnants of a transportation system that played a major role in shaping early San Diego. Streetcars first appeared locally in 1886 as horse- and mule-drawn coaches, followed shortly thereafter by experiments with electric service. The system entered its defining era in 1892, when entrepreneur John D. Spreckels acquired a struggling street railway and established the San Diego Electric Railway Company.
Under Spreckels, the electric railway grew into an extensive network that helped determine where San Diego itself would grow. According to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, the streetcars opened convenient access to places including Mission Hills, North Park, Kensington and East San Diego when many of those areas remained sparsely developed.
Hillcrest sat at the heart of that system. Historic routes traveled along University Avenue and connected with lines running through Park Boulevard and other major corridors, allowing residents to reach downtown and neighboring communities without an automobile. At the Park Boulevard and University Avenue junction, multiple San Diego Electric Railway routes once converged, including service east toward City Heights and north toward Kensington.
The old photographs are striking by modern standards. Double-decker and open-sided streetcars could be crowded with passengers, and the rails ran directly through streets that generations of San Diegans now know only as automobile corridors.
By the 1930s, however, San Diego's streetcars were increasingly competing with private automobiles and buses. The railway introduced newer Presidents Conference Committee, or PCC, streetcars in 1937 in an effort to modernize service, but the broader shift away from rail transportation was already underway.
The old photographs are striking by modern standards. Double-decker and open-sided streetcars could be crowded with passengers, and the rails ran directly through streets that generations of San Diegans now know only as automobile corridors.
By the 1930s, however, San Diego's streetcars were increasingly competing with private automobiles and buses. The railway introduced newer Presidents Conference Committee, or PCC, streetcars in 1937 in an effort to modernize service, but the broader shift away from rail transportation was already underway.
In 1948, the Spreckels interests sold the San Diego Electric Railway Company. By that point, only three electric streetcar routes remained, including the University Avenue line through Hillcrest and University Heights.
The end came the following spring. A ceremonial farewell excursion took place on March 27, 1949, and on April 23 the remaining streetcars made their final runs before buses replaced them. The San Diego History Center notes that San Diego consequently became the first major city in the Southwest to abandon its electric streetcar system entirely in favor of buses. The trains disappeared, but much of their infrastructure didn't.
Rather than excavating every mile of rail, sections were simply paved over as San Diego redesigned its streets around automobiles. Over the decades, construction projects have periodically peeled back those layers and revealed the transportation network still entombed underneath.
University Avenue has produced such discoveries before. Railroad-history documentation shows rails surviving beneath portions of University Avenue between Park Boulevard and Florida Street, while major work at Park and University in 2013 exposed tracks and switches covered by only layers of pavement. The Hillcrest Business Association says tracks were also uncovered around 2000 when University Avenue medians were installed. Now, as those medians and other portions of the corridor are reconfigured, more of the forgotten railway is being exposed.
The work is part of a much larger period of infrastructure construction reshaping Hillcrest and neighboring communities. The City of San Diego is replacing approximately 4.33 miles, or 22,722 feet, of aging pipeline through University Heights, Hillcrest and North Park, with affected streets ultimately receiving paving, slurry sealing and striping as needed.
Nearby transportation projects are also remaking University Avenue and its surrounding streets with new pedestrian, bicycle and transit infrastructure. City plans for the University Avenue corridor include enhanced crossings, curb ramps, transit improvements, traffic signals, medians and other roadway changes intended to improve mobility and safety.
The irony is difficult to miss: while San Diego is spending millions to rethink how people move through Hillcrest without relying exclusively on cars, construction is literally uncovering the remains of a mass-transit system that carried people through the same neighborhood more than a century ago.
One particularly unusual piece of that history is also preparing for a permanent return. The massive Pride Promenade project now under construction along Normal Street is designed to transform the western side of the roadway between University and Lincoln avenues into a pedestrian-oriented public space. Plans include an expanded Pride Plaza, rainbow-colored bikeway, children's play area, historic-style lampposts, seating, shade structures and roughly 115 new trees.
Among its most distinctive features will be a fully restored vintage trolley car intended for commercial use. City officials have specifically described the trolley as a tribute to the neighborhood's history as a major streetcar corridor serving Hillcrest and University Heights.
The restored streetcar is expected to become an eatery, gathering place and information point within the promenade, meaning Hillcrest will eventually have a visible reminder of the transportation system whose original rails are currently being dug out of the pavement nearby.
The Pride Promenade has been years in the making and has not come without disruption. Businesses surrounding the construction zone have reported substantial declines during the work, with some estimating losses of 20 to 30 percent as access and traffic patterns have been disrupted. Community leaders and business owners nevertheless have expressed optimism that the finished public space will ultimately bring more people into the neighborhood.
The project was initially announced with an anticipated completion in late 2026, although its construction timeline has evolved as work has progressed. It is being developed alongside the Eastern Hillcrest Bikeway, a roughly 1.1-mile network of separated and buffered bicycle facilities connecting portions of University Avenue, Normal Street, Lincoln Avenue, Herbert Street, Robinson Avenue and Park Boulevard.
There have also long been conversations about whether rail transit could someday return to Hillcrest in a more meaningful form. At present, however, there is no approved project that would restore light rail along University Avenue, and proposals or concepts discussed over the years should not be confused with a funded transit line.
For now, the rails appearing beneath University Avenue are archaeological remnants rather than the beginnings of a new railway. Once construction moves forward, much of what has survived beneath the pavement will again disappear or be removed.
Their brief return to daylight nevertheless offers an unusual window into how radically San Diego transportation changed during the 20th century. A corridor now dominated by automobiles once carried electric streetcars filled with residents traveling between downtown, Hillcrest, University Heights, North Park and communities farther east.
More than 77 years after the final streetcars rolled through Hillcrest, pieces of that forgotten network are still there - hiding only inches beneath one of the neighborhood's busiest streets.
Originally published on September 23, 2026.
University Avenue has produced such discoveries before. Railroad-history documentation shows rails surviving beneath portions of University Avenue between Park Boulevard and Florida Street, while major work at Park and University in 2013 exposed tracks and switches covered by only layers of pavement. The Hillcrest Business Association says tracks were also uncovered around 2000 when University Avenue medians were installed. Now, as those medians and other portions of the corridor are reconfigured, more of the forgotten railway is being exposed.
The work is part of a much larger period of infrastructure construction reshaping Hillcrest and neighboring communities. The City of San Diego is replacing approximately 4.33 miles, or 22,722 feet, of aging pipeline through University Heights, Hillcrest and North Park, with affected streets ultimately receiving paving, slurry sealing and striping as needed.
Nearby transportation projects are also remaking University Avenue and its surrounding streets with new pedestrian, bicycle and transit infrastructure. City plans for the University Avenue corridor include enhanced crossings, curb ramps, transit improvements, traffic signals, medians and other roadway changes intended to improve mobility and safety.
The irony is difficult to miss: while San Diego is spending millions to rethink how people move through Hillcrest without relying exclusively on cars, construction is literally uncovering the remains of a mass-transit system that carried people through the same neighborhood more than a century ago.
One particularly unusual piece of that history is also preparing for a permanent return. The massive Pride Promenade project now under construction along Normal Street is designed to transform the western side of the roadway between University and Lincoln avenues into a pedestrian-oriented public space. Plans include an expanded Pride Plaza, rainbow-colored bikeway, children's play area, historic-style lampposts, seating, shade structures and roughly 115 new trees.
Among its most distinctive features will be a fully restored vintage trolley car intended for commercial use. City officials have specifically described the trolley as a tribute to the neighborhood's history as a major streetcar corridor serving Hillcrest and University Heights.
The restored streetcar is expected to become an eatery, gathering place and information point within the promenade, meaning Hillcrest will eventually have a visible reminder of the transportation system whose original rails are currently being dug out of the pavement nearby.
The Pride Promenade has been years in the making and has not come without disruption. Businesses surrounding the construction zone have reported substantial declines during the work, with some estimating losses of 20 to 30 percent as access and traffic patterns have been disrupted. Community leaders and business owners nevertheless have expressed optimism that the finished public space will ultimately bring more people into the neighborhood.
The project was initially announced with an anticipated completion in late 2026, although its construction timeline has evolved as work has progressed. It is being developed alongside the Eastern Hillcrest Bikeway, a roughly 1.1-mile network of separated and buffered bicycle facilities connecting portions of University Avenue, Normal Street, Lincoln Avenue, Herbert Street, Robinson Avenue and Park Boulevard.
There have also long been conversations about whether rail transit could someday return to Hillcrest in a more meaningful form. At present, however, there is no approved project that would restore light rail along University Avenue, and proposals or concepts discussed over the years should not be confused with a funded transit line.
For now, the rails appearing beneath University Avenue are archaeological remnants rather than the beginnings of a new railway. Once construction moves forward, much of what has survived beneath the pavement will again disappear or be removed.
Their brief return to daylight nevertheless offers an unusual window into how radically San Diego transportation changed during the 20th century. A corridor now dominated by automobiles once carried electric streetcars filled with residents traveling between downtown, Hillcrest, University Heights, North Park and communities farther east.
More than 77 years after the final streetcars rolled through Hillcrest, pieces of that forgotten network are still there - hiding only inches beneath one of the neighborhood's busiest streets.
Originally published on September 23, 2026.