VTA planning for BART construction continues; trains could run in 2015. Mayor Gonzales dismisses a BART Director Tom Radulovich and Federal Transit Administration proposal to build and open BART in phases from Warm springs, Fremont to Santa Clara. [SF Chronicle]
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The envisioned 16.3-mile extension from Fremont to Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara has had its share of troubles in Washington. The proposed BART extension is not included in either house's version of the transportation bill, and the Department of Transportation decline to include the plan on its list of recommended projects for the current year. That step was taken because the department said Silicon Valley's economic problems led it to question whether Santa Clara County could collect more than $2 billion in voter-approved sales taxes to help pay the local share of the giant project. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales hopes for a congressional 'earmark' of $2 million to keep the project alive. [San Francisco Chronicle]
VTA publishes environmental review of proposed BART to Silicon Valley: [VTA]
Highlights:Service for the BART Alternative could start in 2013, if funding were available. [EIS, 2004 March, at 3.4.12]
Total capital costs in 2003 dollars are estimated at $4,112 million2 for the BART Alternative [EIS, 2004 March, at 3.5.41]
As of March 16, 2004, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (DEIS/EIR) for the proposed BART Extension to Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara is available for public review. The study presents alternatives for improving transit services and discloses the environmental impacts of those alternatives. It describes the project alternatives, existing environmental setting, impacts from construction and operation, best practices and design requirements integrated into the project, and mitigation measures to reduce or eliminate impacts.
Comment on the review:
SANTA CLARA Date: Monday, April 12, 2004 Time: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Location: Santa Clara Senior Center 1303 Fremont Street Santa Clara, CA This location is served by VTA bus lines 22, 60, and 81 SAN JOSE Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 Time: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Location: First United Methodist Church 24 North Fifth Street San Jose, CA This location is served by VTA bus lines 22, 63, 64, 65, 72, 73, and 81 MILPITAS Date: Monday, April 19, 2004 Time: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Location: Joseph Weller Elementary School 345 Boulder Street Milpitas, CA This location is served by VTA bus line 66 To submit written comments by mail, fax or email: Mr. Tom Fitzwater Environmental Planning Manager VTA – Environmental Planning Building B 3331 North First Street San Jose, CA 95134-1927 Fax: (408) 321-5787 email: SVRTC.DEIS-EIRcomments@vta.org Mr. Jerome Wiggins United States Department of Transportation Federal Transportation Authority 201 Mission Street, Suite 2210 San Francisco, CA 94105 All comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on May 14, 2004. Please call VTA Environmental Planning Department at (408) 321-5789 if you have any questions
No on Regional Measure 2: Commitment to BART will bankrupt VTA. [Morgan Hill Times]
To finish the project, VTA BART plan needs an additional $2 billion they don't have. [Eugene Bradley, KLIV Radio]
San Jose Mayor Gonzales has stroke, sends substitutes to Washington DVC to lobby for BART. [Bay City News]
Fremont civil engineer Peggy Klassen ($148k/yr) leaves city and two major BART projects -- an underpass on Paseo Padre Parkway and an overpass on Washington Boulevard -- six months before the start of construction. [Fremont Argus]
San Jose Councilwoman Cindy Chavez leads VTA $51 million further into debt as County Supervisor Don Gage asks, "I think we've done a poor job telling the public why we are making this decision," Gage said. "Why do we have to do engineering now on a project that may be delayed two, three, four, five or 10 years down the road?" [SJ Mercury News]
Should VTA secede from the MTA:
Yes: [Pete Cipolla, VTA Manager,
2]
No:
[SJ Mercury News]
Instead of spending time lobbying Washington for funds for BART, our transportation leaders would better serve the region's need by applying hard-ball lobbying for intervention with Union Pacific, which has not cooperated with efforts to increase Caltrain service to the abjectly under-served South County. [Morgan Hill Times]
Milpitas Vice Mayor Trish Dixon still optimistic about BART. [Milpitas Post]
Please VTA, delay SJ BART again: [VTARU]
SF beats San Jose in quest for federal transit funds. [San Jose Mercury News, fta.dot.gov]
"Project is federally funded," notes a committee agenda item today
for the BART-to-San Jose project. The agenda proposes approval of a
$51 million contract for preliminary engineering of the tunnel that
would be the final stretch of the new BART line, taking it downtown.
Federally funded? To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends on your
definition of "funded." So far the feds have approved a whopping
$2.2 million toward the project, which will cost more than $4 billion.
[SJ Mercury]
BART to Silicon Valley may require another sales tax [Gilroy dispatch]
The fedaral government recommends not funding BART to Silicon Valley. San Jose and Santa Clara are currently linked to Fremont by the Altamont Commuter Express rail line, which runs three trains in the morning and three in the late afternoon. A BART line would offer more frequent service and provide San Jose with its first subway. [SJ BizJournal]
Funding shortfall stalls federal approval. "The FTA said that they can't recommend the improvements for the federal funds right now, solely because of the economic conditions of Silicon Valley is going through," said Carl Guardino of the Silicon Valley Manufacturer's Group. Mayoral spokesman David Vossbrink explained, "A lot of projects that are on the 'not recommended' list get funding. The federal funding process is not a linear process." [NBC 11 TV]
Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC)'s explanation of BART funding shortfall and alternative.
Federal Transit Administration, which rates public rail projects throughout the nation based on their viability, will give the 16-mile BART extension a "not recommended" rating, according to Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the regional transportation planning and financing agency. The rating, to be included in a report to Congress next month, is not necessarily a denial of federal funding, but it heaps more financial uncertainty on the $3.8 billion project. Last year, federal officials asked the VTA to consider cutting the cost of the extension from the $800 million in federal funds it was requesting. And last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating a special state transportation program that would provide $725 million for BART to San Jose. [SF Chronicle]
Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose): "When the next cycle of funding happens, that [FTA 'not recommended' rating] is going to require me to work a little more hard to get earmarks for the project." [Thuy Vu, ABC TV Channel 7]
Anne-Catherine Vinickas, VTA spokeswoman, said the rating "reflects current economic conditions rather than the project's merits." Congress can, and often does, allot money to projects with "not recommended". [SF Chronicle]
The San Jose extension may not be completed until 2026 -- 12 years later than expected, a report from the Federal Transit Administration said. [AP wire, UPI]
