San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan speaks at a Diridon Station media event with local business leaders in San Jose, California, calling for federal funding to complete the long-promised BART extension, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group)
A coalition representing hundreds of businesses on Tuesday released a letter sent to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urging the federal government to immediately spend more than $6 billion to bring BART to downtown San Jose and the city of Santa Clara — the largest single public infrastructure project ever proposed in Santa Clara County.
“This project is critical to our region’s infrastructure and economic growth, and is backed by substantial state and local funding commitments,” wrote Ahmad Thomas, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which represents businesses in the region including Kaiser, Airbnb and the San Jose Sharks. The Bay Area News Group is also a member.
Silicon Valley leaders say moving forward with Phase II of the Silicon Valley BART line is critical because 35% of the Bay Area’s future population and job growth is expected to occur in the region, according to the Bay Area 2050 Plan, a 30-year strategic plan developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission that focuses on the environment, transportation, housing and economy.
Phase I of the BART extension brings service to Santa Clara County from Alameda County, with stops in Milpitas and North San Jose opening in 2020.
Crews began work on the next phase of the expansion project last month, and the area is ready to go but construction cannot begin until federal funding is available.
“Our voters paid their taxes because we really wanted BART here. Now we need the help of the Biden Administration and the Federal Transit Administration,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez said at a news conference Tuesday. “We need them to step up. We need to include federal funding to move this project forward.”
Over the past two decades, Santa Clara County taxpayers have poured more than $4.6 billion into the project, and the state has contributed another $1.9 billion. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is designing and building the South Bay extension. BART will operate and maintain the line.
The Federal Transit Administration is expected to decide on the dollar amount it will provide in the coming weeks, but an internal report outlines numerous concerns and risks associated with the project, including the controversial decision to use a single-bore tunnel design instead of the traditional double-bore tunnel design.
The federal government raised several other concerns in the report that could compound the challenges, such as a higher inflation rate for transit projects in California than the national average and what it described as a lack of a clear plan for the $2.7 billion in emergency funding that VTA has set aside in case something goes wrong.
The VTA said in a statement that the agency is “in intensive talks with the Federal Transit Administration and fighting for every dollar we can secure for this project.”
The six-mile, four-station BART extension that would run from the Berryessa Transit Center in North San Jose through downtown and into Santa Clara has a price tag that has soared from $4.4 billion to $12.75 billion in the past decade. Originally slated to begin service in 2026, its opening date has been pushed back to 2037. By 2040, officials say the BART extension to Silicon Valley will serve 55,000 passengers daily. Chavez said it is also expected to create 75,000 union jobs.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said expanding BART will benefit future generations.
“Bringing BART through Silicon Valley is not just about the cost today, but also about the opportunities we create in the future. It’s proof that Americans can still do great things. That we can make sacrifices for profit, for the opportunities of future generations,” Mahan said. “This is for our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren after that.”
Mahan said having the opportunity to use public transportation has changed her life as a carless renter as she goes to school and enters the workforce.
“Without the Highway 17 Express Bus, I would never have been able to take advantage of a work-study scholarship to get a great, high-quality education,” he said. “Without Caltrain, which was originally built by people six generations ago, I would never have been able to start a company and travel from San Jose to the Peninsula. Transportation changed my life.”
Staff writer Grace Hase contributed to this report.
