Hello, Navajo and College Area!
‘If this is what I get upset about, then I am doing ok.’ That’s what I tell myself when sitting in a single file of cars on Mission Gorge Road, looking at the orange traffic bollards marking the closure of two of three lanes.
And sure, for some reason, telling myself this once doesn’t mean I don’t repeat it every time I have to merge into single lanes with drivers who, somehow, act as if they have never had to navigate such a driving maneuver, so be it.
So, I was curious when I opened up the email update from the East County Advanced Water Purification project — this last line you just read, assuming you made it this far, may be the oldest-sounding line that I have ever typed.
Just when will this construction, this minor inconvenience that I huff and guff about in my car, end?
Some good news for those like-minded Navajo residents: The project to replace 9 miles of pipeline and rehabilitate another 8 miles along Mission Gorge Road, from Santee, through Mission Trails Regional Park, and into Grantville, is moving along.
Overall pipeline installation, according to the project’s website and email blast, is approximately 72% complete. As for work through Mission Trails Park, here’s what the email said:
“Pipeline installation reached 100% completion in July 2026. Crews are now installing vaults and completing pipeline connections, with testing and surface restoration to follow. The temporary bypass pipeline running the length of the Father Junipero Serra Trail will also be removed. Work within the park is expected to wrap up in 2027.”
Screech…the sound of cars coming to a screeching halt sounded in my head. If the pipeline replacement is 100% done but a year or so of work remains, what does this mean for Mission Gorge Road?
It means frustrating merges and mantras such as, ‘If this is all I am complaining about, then I’m doing ok.’
Of course, the work is for a good cause, bringing, as the project states, “a new local water supply while also generating renewable energy,” from the biogas produced from wastewater treatment, which will power the wastewater facility and generate power for 700 homes every day.
Best wishes and friendly merges ahead, fellow Navajoans.
Dorian Hargrove
Mission Times newsletter host
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