The Navarro Report | San Diego
July 29, 2026
Residents of Hillcrest have watched the Normal Street Promenade take shape for months, framing it as a bike lane and park project. That framing is accurate but incomplete. The far larger and less visible piece of the project sits underground, in a storm drain system that is finally being connected to the rest of the city’s infrastructure after a century of isolation.
“We’ve been calling it a bike lane project and a promenade project, but by far the most work has been the storm drains,” said Brittany Bailey, government affairs and grant manager for the mayor’s office, describing the balance of effort behind the visible amenities.
The root problem dates back roughly 100 years. Hillcrest’s original storm drains were never linked to the broader municipal stormwater system, leaving the intersection near Normal Street and University Avenue prone to flooding whenever it rained heavily enough. Longtime residents have referred to the recurring flood zone informally as “Lake Hillcrest,” a nickname the project is designed to retire for good. Beyond simply connecting the neighborhood’s drains to the citywide system, builders are also widening the diameter of the storm drain inlets to improve water flow and reduce the odds of future backups.
The above-ground elements, including new lighting, shade structures, and a restored trolley car painted in a distinctive avocado green, have understandably captured public attention. They are the part of the project residents will see and use daily. But the storm drain work is what determines whether the promenade functions as intended during San Diego’s rainy season, and it represents the kind of infrastructure investment that rarely generates headlines on its own despite being essential to a neighborhood’s long-term resilience.
From a municipal finance and capital planning perspective, the Normal Street Promenade is a useful case study in how infrastructure projects get bundled and communicated to the public. Pairing a century-overdue drainage fix with a more visible, more popular park and bike lane investment can help build public support and secure funding for work that would otherwise be a harder sell on its own. It also illustrates a common tension in capital budgeting: the components of a project that deliver the most durable value, in this case flood mitigation for an entire neighborhood, are often the least visible and the most expensive to explain to taxpayers and elected officials.
As the promenade nears completion, the true test will come with San Diego’s next significant rain event. If the intersection at Normal Street and University Avenue stays dry, the project’s less glamorous half will have quietly done its job, protecting homes, businesses, and roadways in a way no ribbon-cutting ceremony can fully capture.
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