The Federal Transit Administration last week announced a $500 million down payment for the project and is expected to finalize a $6 billion award later this year. This new underground line will extend the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) through San Jose and Santa Clara, which are already served by the region’s Caltrain and public buses.
A decade ago, the duplicative subway was estimated to cost $4.4 billion and open in 2026. Local transportation planners wanted BART to “ring” the San Francisco Bay. Estimated costs have since ballooned to $12.75 billion—$2.1 billion a mile—owing to inflation and engineering changes. Now service isn’t expected to start until 2037.
A local project manager blamed soaring costs and delays on “a shortage of skilled labor in the Bay Area and the country.” Perhaps more construction workers would be available if the Administration weren’t splashing around hundreds of billions of dollars on green energy and public works like the Silicon Valley subway.
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