VTA approves $235M San Jose BART extension deal

Marking a key milestone in the long-delayed effort to bring BART trains to downtown San Jose, the Valley Transportation Authority board awarded a major contract billed as the project's “foundational backbone” on May 5 while also approving an independent review of the project's controversial design in an effort to assuage critics.

The decision could shape construction plans for years to come as the VTA embarks on a massive tunnelmining and station-building effort later this decade.

The unanimous vote from the board puts the VTA in the unusual position of awarding a $235 million contract that moves forward with the extension's “single-bore” tunnel plan, while simultaneously launching a new analysis of the contentious design.

While the board authorized the new analysis, questions remain over who will oversee the review and how much impact, if any, it would have on the design as the contract award lays the groundwork for the mega project's single-bore tunnel. The VTA has yet to devote any money to the independent peer review and did not set a deadline for results.

Critics say VTA'S plan to mine one of the world's largest subway tunnels with a single-bore instead of a more conventional dual-bore design could compromise the rider experience and lead to ballooning costs. They say the single-bore system — which would be placed deeper underground — would limit entrances to stations and require riders to descend a maze of escalators to get from the street to BART trains.

Supporters of the singlebore design say it would avoid chaos on Santa Clara Street by minimizing surface-level disruptions, while shallower dual-bore construction would require tearing up swaths of the street. They also say switching to a dual-bore would require new environmental clearances, tacking years more of delays onto the project.

In a memo earlier this week, San Jose Mayor and VTA board member Sam Liccardo along with VTA board chair Chappie Jones and board member Raul Peralez called for “an additional independent analysis to be conducted on the single- and dual-bore options, building on the independent analyses provided by outside firms and large metro transit agencies in 2017.”

The analysis, they wrote, should provide a “clear view of the trade-offs” between the two tunneling methods, including passenger safety, rider experience, cost and construction delays.

The VTA board vote comes as the 6-mile, fourstation BART extension through downtown San Jose faces criticism over a federal analysis that pegged the expected cost at $9.1 billion — a $2.25 billion increase over the current budget.

It also comes days after a Bay Area News Group report revealed that, in a series of text messages, Liccardo and VTA'S Takis Salpeas, the agency's lead on the project, initially sought to keep the federal cost figures from the public. The pair said the secrecy was necessary at the time in order to prevent contractors from increasing their prices during the open-bidding process and, in turn, save taxpayer money.

Rachel Davis, Liccardo's spokesperson, said May 4 that the mayor's call for a new review “does not constitute a `reversal' because the single-bore design remains the Board-reviewed proposed project.”

“Rather, the proposals reflect a continuation of the unanimous public vote of the San José City Council in December 2021 to encourage VTA to fully and publicly vet alternatives and options in project design prior to the final vote on the project,” she added.

In the wake of the federal cost analysis, transit advocates and a growing number of BART board members for months have been calling on the VTA to reassess its tunnel and station designs.

Influential Bay Area organizations, including the public policy think tank SPUR, the Bay Area Council and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, now are calling on the transit agency to co-lead the review with BART and the San Jose Department of Transportation. The review also has support from the San Jose Downtown Association, which was a key proponent of the single-bore design.

“We don't want to get into a position that an independent review determines something should go in another direction, but it's already been baked in,” Rebecca Saltzman, president of the BART board said.

The $235 million contract approved by the board on Thursday is going to Kiewit Shea Traylor, a consortium of three construction companies that will further develop the project design and set the stage for construction. The extensive tunnel mining and construction phases are expected to cost billions of dollars and take years to dig.

Business owners such as George Lahlouh, a coowner of the bar and restaurant Miniboss, which will be located adjacent to the future downtown San Jose station on Santa Clara Street, want to see the least disruption possible.

“It's a scary thought to have something like this looming,” Lahlouh said in an interview. “I hope that the decision that they make is in the best interest of not only the budget but the relatively small number of businesses helping to keep the downtown core alive.”

Salpeas remains adamant that a single bore is the best way forward.

“I believe what we have in front of us now is the right decision,” Salpeas said in an interview earlier this week, adding that engineers are looking to improve riders' station access while maintaining the current tunnelmining technology.

“Don't tell me that the twin bore will be cheaper than the single bore. Go visit Hollywood,” added Salpeas, referring to the rising costs of Los Angeles's Purple Line subway extension.