Image downtown San Jose with a gaping open trench alongside Santa Clara Road, eliminating your entire street, sidewalks and storefronts for years. That’s what the double-bore “cut-and-cover” technique would do. San Francisco took this method on Market Road within the Seventies and, even 50 years later, it has by no means totally recovered. Retailers are shuttered, foot visitors is minimal and the world struggles with crime. We can not enable this to occur in San Jose.
As a downtown enterprise proprietor and the CEO of the downtown affiliation, we all know how important the BART extension is for our metropolis’s future. It’s going to join us to the Bay Space, improve transit and spur financial development. Nonetheless, how we deliver BART downtown issues as a lot as getting it right here.
That’s why officers selected the single-bore resolution, which tunnels underground with minimal floor disruption. But, some need to reopen the talk and take into account the double-bore cut-and-cover method. This could tear up Santa Clara Road for years, devastating companies and pushing away residents and traders. Classes from San Francisco’s Market Road catastrophe make it clear we should keep away from this path.
Put up-COVID, our metropolis is at a vital juncture. Downtown San Jose is within the midst of restoration efforts, with small companies regaining footing and the town attracting new funding. Tearing up Santa Clara Road could be a blow from which our downtown may by no means recuperate. Extended development would drive away clients, power companies to shut and scare off traders.
In distinction, the single-bore technique minimizes street-level disruption. Whereas there could be some development impacts, they might be far much less damaging. Santa Clara Road may stay open, companies may maintain working and we might not lose the progress we’ve made in attracting folks again downtown, together with a $1M funding to make Santa Clara Road extra enticing. The selection is evident: Single bore is one of the best resolution for bringing BART downtown with out sacrificing the guts of our metropolis.
Critics argue that single bore is simply too costly, suggesting double bore may lower your expenses. Nonetheless, switching now would require a big redesign, triggering delays to the undertaking that may add to the development prices. The VTA has mentioned in public conferences that guide prices are working at $30 million per thirty days, so the price of delay could be vital. We fear the delay may additionally jeopardize the $5.1 billion in federal funding. Any potential financial savings from double bore could be worn out by the monetary burden of this delay, making it impractical.
Let’s keep the course. Since 2016, officers studied and chosen single bore, receiving federal environmental clearance. This selection was chosen for minimizing street-level disruption and avoiding in depth utility relocations. It complies with rigorous security requirements set by the Nationwide Hearth Safety Affiliation, identical to all fashionable transit methods in the USA. The one bore method has been used efficiently in different initiatives worldwide, proving a stable alternative for dense city areas like downtown San Jose. VTA’s work on refining this design has ensured it’s possible, protected and dependable.
We want BART in downtown San Jose — nobody is questioning that. However we should make sure that its arrival strengthens our metropolis somewhat than crippling it. San Francisco’s Market Road is a cautionary story we can not afford to disregard. Our downtown’s future is at stake. Single bore is the one alternative that permits us to have each a contemporary transit system and a thriving downtown.
Alex Stettenski is chief government officer of the San Jose Downtown Affiliation. Dan Phan owns Paper Aircraft bar in downtown San Jose.
Initially Printed: November 12, 2024 at 5:30 AM PST
