- By Patrick Hoge | Examiner staff writer |
- May 11, 2024 Updated May 11, 2024 (SFExaminer.com)
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.
When finished, the transit center will enable people traveling to the immediate area via local and regional modes to connect with bus lines, commuter rail serving the Peninsula and South Bay, and — in theory — high-speed rail through the Central Valley to Southern California.
It follows a March announcement by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration was requesting $500 million for the project.
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.
“There’s only a handful of projects in the United States that have that level of commitment,” Van de Water said.
The Transbay Joint Powers Authority has spent $2.3 billion building the Salesforce Transit Center, currently a busy bus station south of Mission Street that serves eight transit systems. The center also features retail businesses and a 5.4 acre rooftop park.
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.
TJPA officials had hoped to sign a full-funding grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration next spring, but they said they now believe it will take until at least mid-2026.
However, the agency has already shortlisted three teams to design and construct the project and intends to issue a formal request for proposals at the end of the year.
It has also set aside $340 million to buy ten properties and 18 easements to make way for the project.
