South Bay transportation leaders are a step closer to pushing BART service deeper into Santa Clara County.
After a yearslong debate over whether to build one tunnel or two, VTA says it has now finalized its plan, settling on building a single tunnel underneath Santa Clara Street to bring BART to downtown San Jose.
VTA planners on Monday released a cost report that they will present to their board of directors on Thursday. They say drilling a single bore will be less disruptive to businesses and cheaper.
“Even before we escalate dollars from current dollars to future dollars, if we were building the subway right now the twin bore would cost approximately $600 million more than a single bore would cost,” VTA Megaprojects Officer Tom Maguire said.
VTA planners compare the single bore plan to the twin bore plan a lot because in the early stages many critics noted a more shallow twin bore proposal was a more standard and accepted approach. But planners now say technology has changed and made a deeper single bore more viable.
Critics point out some consultants have said the savings comparison is inflated and that the $600 million savings for a solo tunnel could be swallowed up by costs associated with digging 80 to 100 feet deep.
Critics also note access to such a deep BART station could be a problem for many riders.
Planners said they are ready to present their case to the board.
“This is really very important to us to be able to do,” VTA CEO Carolyn Gonot said. “It’s a major infrastructure project, but it’s also a major investment in transportation and in land use and our ability to have mobility around the whole Bay Area.”
Source: NBC Bay Area