For trolley users of Grossmont Center, Christmas comes in July 2011. That's when the Grossmont Trolley Station's pedestrian skybridge and elevator are slated for completion. Many folks will sigh with relief when the wait―and climb―is over.

"In the beginning, it took me more than 15 minutes," Walmart employee Patty Piceno said of her hike up the steep staircase from the trolley platform to the  shopping center level. "I was exhausted. I had to go to the middle and stop and then keep going."

Piceno's strength has  improved in the three years she's been using the trolley, but she said it still took some time getting up those 50-plus wooden steps to the parking lot of 24 Hour Fitness.

In fact, most commuters who frequent that popular trolley stop said the usual travel time from trolley to destination is about five to 10 minutes—whether they choose the temporary 38-step stairway on the north side (since the old stairs on the south have been closed off) or the roundabout route that adds a couple of blocks to the trip. 

"I hate it," daily commuter Kelsey Graf said of the station, also called the Grossmont Transit Center. "The stairs are horrible, and it seems like there are so many, especially going uphill when you're carrying stuff."

To ease some of the physical strain, the MTS Route 1 bus travels from the transit center to Grossmont Center and the neighboring hospital before heading west on El Cajon Boulevard into Hillcrest.  While many commuters find this service helpful, the bus schedule is less than ideal.

"Whenever I get [to the bus stop] from the trolley," Piceno said, "the bus is already leaving or not there, so I go to the stairs.  But I use it whenever I can."

Carmen Tores agreed, saying the Route 1 bus is helpful but would be more convenient if it ran more frequently. The bus now runs every half-hour Monday through Saturday, and only every hour Sundays.

Tores, who uses the trolley and bus to get to work, often found herself packing her work shoes in her purse and using the staircase.

"Usually I have sneakers on, and I'm running up the steps," she said.

Tores also said she worried about her safety in the surrounding trolley area, a feeling echoed by several other trolley users, and that she thinks the elevator will help minimize that concern.

"When I come in here on weekends to go to work, there's not that many people," she said. "I never see anyone looking out [from the nearby balconies], so who are you going to call out to?  And then you have to take those steps and when you're scared, those steps get longer and longer."

Soon, the trip to the mesa above will be effortless for commuters like Tores and others, and it's a project that's been a long time coming.

"For many, many years our goal was to get an elevator that would help take people up that 30 feet or so elevation change," said City Manager David Witt.  "That was a big challenge, getting the capital funds together to afford that project."

The city of La Mesa contributed $540,000 toward the project, confirmed Frank Owsiany, the city's senior transportation engineer.  The project also included $4 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the federal stimulus), as well as funds from federal and state transportation programs.

"The cost of the overall project is $7.9 million," Owsiany said. "The pedestrian enhancements portion of the project—[such as the] elevators, pedestrian bridge and station amenities—is currently on budget and on schedule."

On schedule means it should be completed July 19, 2011, according to a timeline of the project provided by Witt. But punctuality hasn't always been the case. In fact, the project is the product of several agencies over almost a decade.

The first design for station improvements was submitted in August 2003, but it wasn't until August 2009 that the final design for the mustard-and-red pedestrian skybridge and elevator tower was finally completed, Owsiany said.

"This project was truly a win-win for everyone," Owsiany said. "It required multi-agency, multidiscipline cooperation between the city of La Mesa, SANDAG, MTS, Fairfield Residential and private property owners."

Fairfield Residential LLC is the real estate development company selected by the city in July 2003 to build the Alterra and Pravada apartment complex on Fletcher Parkway that flanks the trolley station.  Despite the trolley's existence since 1989, Witt says the timing of the apartment construction and discussion of plans to improve public accessibility was purely coincidental.

"The elevator is serving the broader public for the transit to function better," he said. "It happens to be that obviously the people who live in the Fairfield project get to use it too. But they really were secondary to the bigger, broader process."

Groundbreaking for the tower project took place in mid-February, attended by Mayor Art Madrid and Lori Holt Pfeiler, mayor of Escondido and chair of SANDAG. With the end finally in sight, the excitement of construction is topped by an added bonus—generating business for local companies.

La Mesa-based Riha Construction is the primary contractor, with five employees and 10 subconsultants working directly on the project, according to Owsiany.  

"Additionally," he said, "local firms specializing in steel fabrication, concrete, landscaping, electrical, asphalt and paving will be utilized on this project."

Though most commuters don't know much about the project—other than it's going to shave considerable time and sweat off their commute—the enthusiasm they feel for it is palpable.

Even Michael Finch, a daily trolley user who boasted he could scale the longer stairs in just 60 seconds, is thrilled by the idea.

"I haven't heard anything about it," he said, "except for I'm not going to have to walk up those stairs anymore!"