I keep writing about Livermore because it annoys me. Do these opposition people not realize how bad it looks to fund a line in the middle of a freeway that will cost a billion dollars and only get about 5k to 10k riders? (I don't believe the happy ridership estimates they give in the alternatives analysis) If you spend $500m on the 30th street BART station you'd get 15k riders and greater VMT reductions. Not that the locally preferred alternative is that much better, at least it goes to the center of Livermore, giving the city an opportunity to build up around it.
This brings about the point that there needs to be a serious discussion about how many riders our investments are getting for the money. I know it's a bit more complicated than just riders and funding, but ultimately Livermore shows that we need more education on why connecting actual places is so important. It gets riders, and allows a place decide its future.
5 comments:
At normal-world costs (certainly not San Francisco costs, alas), $1 billion gets you 4 km of Geary subway. That's Market to Masonic. At BART to San Jose/Central Subway costs, you get 2 km, about as far as Little Osaka.
Re : 30th+Mission (S.F.) Infill Stn.
How stale is that $500M price tag ? I suspect that the real price tag would be closer to a billion dollars due to site problems and delays.
FYI - The actual station would probably be under San Jose Ave. with one of the entrances near (half a block ?) 30th+Mission. This is one of those infill stations that look great on a map but are a nightmare to build (soil, tunnel slope, tight site) and it might introduce substantial delays into the schedule if it were built.
MB94128, the plans for the 30th Street Station are on the BART web site. The existing route runs, and the proposed route would run, under Mission, and the statoin would be on the block between 29th and 30th Streets.
You are right about it being difficult to build, though, especially without disrupting service during construction.
Thank you for the link. I've seen an unofficial tunnel map that has the bores running under part of San Jose Ave. in that area. So the plans are eight years old (May of 2003), est. price tag of $450M - $500M and are conservative.
Tunnel Diagram :
P.27 of "30th.a.pdf"
Use 'View' menu in PDF tool to rotate clockwise.
Thank you! They say HSR is a boondoggle, well BART is a money PIT with its head stuck up its @$$ on priorities! Livermore and San Jose should be scrapped. VTA should fund the measure A projects first and Livermore could be better serviced by an HS commuter overlay, getting people to San Jose faster! A primary function of the I-680 corridor!
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