SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

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Originally Posted by JManc

How will that work? TB is a hard left to the NW from the current terminus. Same track?

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Feds pledge $3.4B to bring Caltrain, high-speed rail to Salesforce center

The decadeslong quest to connect Caltrain and high-speed rail to the multimodal Salesforce Transit Center in downtown San Francisco has taken a giant leap forward with a federal pledge of $3.38 billion to the effort, according to the agency managing the project.

The new cash commitment from the Federal Transit Administration, which requires local matching funds, represents 41% of the current estimated cost of The Portal project.

The massive undertaking would extend the Caltrain commuter rail line by 1.8 miles, dig 1.3 miles of underground tunnel, and construct two underground stations to bring Caltrain service from Fourth and King Streets to a six-level underground endpoint. Agency officials anticipate the rail extension will be in service around 2032 or 2033.

With other local and state funding sources already committed, the project now has over two-thirds of the estimated cost covered, said Adam Van de Water, executive director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, in a presentation to his agency’s board of directors this week.

Next, the agency must figure out how to close the remaining $2.75 billion funding gap. Staff are working with an alphabet soup of governmental entities at the local, regional, state and federal levels to find the needed money.

The agency hopes to get $1 billion from the state, but where that will come from remains to be seen. The state’s greenhouse-gas emissions cap-and-trade program does not currently have the capacity for such a significant investment, said Shima Mirzaei, TJPA’s chief financial officer.

Agency officials hope to benefit from legislation recently introduced by two state senators, Scott Wiener and Aisha Wahab, that would authorize the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission to propose a November 2026 Bay Area ballot measure that would — among other things — provide transportation funding, particularly to help services that have seen lower use since the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/tran...fe4357d4c.html

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Federal Budget Allocates a Half Billion Dollars to VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Extension Project



05/09/2024

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced today that $500 million is officially in the federal budget to be used toward a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) for the BART Silicon Valley Extension project. The funding allocation demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to this nationally important infrastructure project.

“It is a sign of incredible confidence that the FTA and the President of the United States are interested in this project,” said VTA Board Chair and Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez. “This $500 million dollar (investment) inches us closer to getting this project completed.” Chavez said.

This significant federal funding allocation is the first funding commitment for the project through the FTA’s New Starts Funding Program. VTA will submit its formal request for approximately $6 billion, roughly 50% of the project cost, through the FTA funding program later this summer with the expectation of completing the full funding agreement with the FTA before the end of the year. The FFGA will outline the terms, timeline and annual allocations VTA will receive. The other half of the project cost is already committed with local and state funds.

https://www.vta.org/blog/federal-bud...ension-project