San Jose Transit Project Almost Doubles in Cost

Originally projected to cost $4.7 billion, a six-mile extension to San Jose’s Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, now has a price tag of $9.1 billion.

This summer, the project was estimated to cost $6.9 billion but a more recent estimate now lands at almost double the original cost, The Real Deal reported.

In 2019, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which is building the extension, said it would cost $4.7 billion and be finished by 2026 but just as the cost has grown, the completion date has been pushed back to 2030.

The Federal Transit Administration said the VTA underestimated how much the six-mile, four-station extension will cost.

The new estimate considers “additional risk and contingencies,” such as increased costs for labor or supplies, federal officials said.

The extension, which will run from East San Jose to Santa Clara, will consist of a 48-foot-wide tunnel that will accommodate two trains.

Proponents have heralded the single-bore technique as minimizing street disruptions by tunneling deeper from underground, as opposed to the traditional dual-bore tunneling method that tears up chunks of road, The Real Deal reported.

But passengers must use longer escalators that reach deeper into stations, and federal officials are urging the VTA and BART to reconsider the plans as too costly.

The last thing this project needs is additional costs, so officials should seriously consider what’s the best way to get the spending under control.

This project was initially highlighted by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) as a billion-dollar boondoggle.

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