La Mesa

Construction on a 4.5-mile eastward extension of the San Diego trolley is scheduled to begin by early March, Rick Thorpe, director of engineering and construction for the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, said Friday.

The $20-million job will extend the East Line from its present terminus at Euclid Avenue in Southeast San Diego to Spring Street in La Mesa.

Herzog Contracting Corp. of St. Joseph, Mo., contractor on other segments of the trolley, was awarded the new contract on a low bid of $18 million. Construction reserves bring the cost of the project to $20 million.

Construction of the remaining 11.1-mile segment of the East Line to El Cajon is scheduled to be under way by summer, with trolley service from El Cajon to downtown San Diego slated to begin in August, 1989. MTDB planners estimate that the East Line will carry about 20,000 passengers a day by the year 2000.