Tracks for cheap?

An architectural rendering of a proposed station.

It was reported in the Merc that the BART extension to San Jose is eligible for federal monies. This is interesting, because the last time BART asked Uncle Sam to help get it to San Jose the answer was: "No way." (I'm paraphrasing.) Now, it's a: "Maybe."

So what changed between now and then? The project got cheaper. Before, it was going to be A 16.1-mile line from the East Bay through San Jose and into Santa Clara, which would have cost an estimated $6.1 billion. Now the plan is to build a 10.2-mile track to Berryessa in San Jose, costing $2.5 billion, dropping the price from $379 million per mile to $245 million per mile.

The extension is a project of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, (they are working with BART to set it up), so I talked with Bernice Alaniz, the VTA Director of Public Affairs, and she had a simple explanation for the big decrease in cost: The 10.2 miles they want to build now is all above ground. The rest - through downtown San Jose - would be below ground and would require tunneling. And tunnels are expensive.

But for now, the VTA is sticking to the cheap part of the route. But cheap is relative and the money has to come from somewhere: If the VTA and BART receive $750 million or more from the Federal government, it will trigger a one-eighth cent sales tax in Santa Clara to pay for the project.