SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[timpdx]

Flew OAK-BUR mid-day today and got a nice view of the deconstruction of the old Bay Bridge and the new Treasure Island on/off ramps.

We turned too "late" to get downtown SF on my side of the plane, even though last time I flew the route, I was on the right side of the plane to look down on the financial district. It was so clear it would have been sweet to get a look down on the city, oh well, no complaints.



And bonus shot of the GG Bridge and Marin Headlands.

[OhioGuy]

Mayor Wants To Reroute Caltrain Past Warriors Arena, Tear Down 280 Overpass

The big news being broken by mustache twins Matier & Ross today is a potential plan, unveiled in a closed-door meeting last week at City Hall, to drastically rethink the routing of Caltrain and the eventual hi-speed rail line so that it hugs the waterfront, passes by the Warriors Arena, and frees up the existing rail yard at 4th and King for future development. The idea would be to remove a large section of the 280 overpass as well, so that what is currently an industrial area cut through by a freeway would become a new neighborhood with big development potential.

The plan would call for a major, and extremely expensive track reroute and underground tunnel that would turn existing tracks at 22nd Street, taking them under the waterfront from there, along Third Street, past the new, 18,000 seat Warriors Arena — thereby eliminating more need for parking which is one of the arguments being levied by those shadowy opponents — and create a new joint Caltrain/Hi-Speed Rail/Muni station near AT&T Park.

The track would then go under SoMa more directly to the new Transbay Terminal at First and Mission, and this would replace the need to extend Caltrain tracks up 4th Street, which had the been the plan until now.

[northbay]

This article answers the question of when the SMART Larkspur extension would open at the earliest:

Feds give SMART environmental clearance to go to Larkspur


Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit showed off one of its train cars to attendees at a San Rafael public forum on transportation earlier this month. Robert Tong — Marin Independent Journal

By Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal

Posted: 05/21/15, 4:03 PM PDT

A planned extension of the SMART commuter train from San Rafael to Larkspur has gained environmental approval from the federal government, helping clear a path to connect the two cities.

The Federal Transit Administration announced this week there were no significant impacts to the environment associated with the project. Work started on the environmental plan by SMART more than two years ago, even though at that time funding for the extension had not been fully identified.

...

President Obama’s budget for 2015-16 issued in February includes $20 million to complete construction of the rail extension. And so far, so good.

“We (have) advanced in the federal budget from the subcommittee to the appropriations committee for the extension to Larkspur,” noted SMART board member Jake Mackenzie.

Federal approval of the environmental document allows SMART to proceed with a design for the extension. Mansourian hopes to convene San Rafael, Larkspur, Golden Gate Bridge and other local officials in the coming weeks to discuss aspects of the project. Ideally, the extension to Larkspur could be launched in 2017, although Mansourian acknowledged that might be optimistic.

...

Work has already been done on a key stretch to get service to Larkspur. In December 2010 the revamped Cal Park Hill Tunnel, an 1,100-foot tube, was opened at a cost of $28 million.

The federal funding would allow SMART to put rails from the transit center in San Rafael through the tunnel and connect trains to Golden Gate Ferry service, which can then take commuters into San Francisco.

Reach the author at mprado@marinij.com or follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkPradoIJ.

For full article: http://www.marinij.com/general-news/...go-to-larkspur

[northbay]

Update on the SMART Operations and Maintenance Facility:

SMART Contractor, Shimmick Construction, is working on the Operations & Maintenance Facility on Airport Blvd in Santa Rosa. Work is expected to be completed this summer.


Installation of exhaust venting system


Installation of track crossing


View of the building from the south end






Finished parking lot

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...8397555&type=1

BONUS photos by me:

American Ag Credit Building going up near Airport Station





Street construction by the tracks


Airplanes from STS

[northbay]

https://m.facebook.com/sonomamarintr...pe=1&source=45

[northbay]

The nearly complete SMART Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF):


https://www.facebook.com/sonomamarin...type=1&theater

[peanut gallery]

The SFMTA had a mock-up of the new Muni cars on display yesterday:





Photos from the SFMTA website.

It was just a mock-up of the front and what the interior will look like thus no shots of the side.

[Busy Bee]

These werent my favorite of the four options. To me this LRV looks mean, and I dont like mean looking LRVs SF doesnt seem mean to me. The front end should look like a big happy face. As it is now it seems MUNI will soon become MEANI

[peanut gallery]

Ha ha. Never really thought about it before but it does look kind of pissed off.

[fflint]

Maybe that 'mean' look can finally get all the asshole double-parkers to move their vehicles off the tracks?

[northbay]

Sleek! The things next to the muni logo look like whiskers so that it helps give a softer "cutesy" look (rather than mean) for me.

[CharlesCO]

At least they're going with a proper, red color Muni livery and not that weird, teal rubbish one that we initially saw in the mockups, right?

[Busy Bee]

^ I had the impression that was just to assist the general public in differentiating between the four options anyway and not a serious livery proposal. I could be wrong though.

[Busy Bee]

Im also really curious whether those truck skirts depicted in the renderings make it into the final product. They really aid in making the cars look sleek.

[CharlesCO]

Look at this! First pictures of the first new BART car to be manufactured in centuries!



http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2015/news20150617-1

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by CharlesCO

Look at this! First pictures of the first new BART car to be manufactured in centuries!
[url]http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2015/news20150617-1[/ur l]

In this century!

[AndrewK]

Originally Posted by peanut gallery

The SFMTA had a mock-up of the new Muni cars on display yesterday:

kinda reminds me of:

[Grantenfuego]

I really like the look of the new trains. Having more space in the interior will be so nice!

Will these new trains reduce travel time at all? Faster acceleration or travel speeds? Or are they bound by the speeds of the old trains that will still be on the lines?

[northbay]

An aerial photo of the Haystack Bridge in Petaluma taken on May 19th, 2015


https://m.facebook.com/sonomamarintr...pe=1&source=48

[northbay]

Great news!

SMART secures $11 million grant to purchase three more rail cars


Photo illustration showing a SMART train with three cars. (PHOTO: SMART)

BY GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
June 30, 2015, 1:19PM

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit authority received an $11 million state grant Tuesday to purchase three more rail cars for the commuter rail system scheduled to begin operating in December 2016, state and local officials said.

State Transportation Agency Secretary Brian Kelly and state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, announced the SMART grant, part of a package of 14 grants totaling $224 million to support public transportation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The three additional cars will boost SMART’s seating capacity by 35 percent, officials said. Because of the escalating costs for rail cars, the grant also was estimated to have saved taxpayers about $11 million, according to state officials.

“It’s a big deal,” said Farhad Mansourian, the rail authority’s general manager, expressing thanks to Kelly and McGuire for securing a piece of the competitive grant funding.

The three cars will expand SMART’s existing fleet of 14 cars, which operate in two-car sets, enabling the system to run a trio of three-car sets, Mansourian said. The new cars are “middle cars” that will sandwich between two of the existing cars, he said.

That configuration boosts passenger capacity from 320 people sitting and standing to 450 people in the three-car sets, he said.

The added capacity will help enable SMART to extend service from the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport to Windsor, a link currently missing from the rail development plan. The authority also needs $39 million to lay track from the airport area to Windsor, Mansourian said.

SMART took delivery of four gray-and-green rail cars in April and has the other 10 on order, he said.

...

With the price of rail cars expected to double after 2017, the latest grant saves SMART — and ultimately taxpayers — $11 million, Mansourian said.

...

The rail project will take more than 1.4 million car trips off Highway 101 annually and reduce greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming, by at least 124,000 pounds per day, the agency’s website says.

The 14 state grants help support about $720 million in public transportation investments and reduce an estimated 860,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 180,000 cars off the road, the State Transportation Agency said in a press release.

The grants come from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund using proceeds from the state’s cap-and-trade auctions.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/41...-million-grant