S.F. Bay Area's...I-580 comments:

The Westbound I-580 to I680 South (to San Jose) and North (to Walnut Creek) is in desperate need to be upgraded/rebuilt into a high-capacity, high-speed freeway-to-freeway interchange.

This interchange has motorists suffering almost daily accidents, some fatal due to semi-truck involvement and the Hacienda and Hopyard line-of-sight limitations due to their undercrossings, and, the grossly inadequate signage and lane space for traffic to line up and stack to handle the decades-long outdated old interchange.   Indeed, after the BART line was installed in the Westbound I-580 median, Caltrans forgot to move the line-up sign with arrow to the right (the whole freeway was moved over one lane) and a couple of fatal accidents occurred, I called Caltrans to advise them that the sign was pointing to the wrong lane, second from the right, instead of the rightmost lane where the newly aligned lane would line up to the I-680 interchange, especially to San Jose (I-680 South).   Instead of moving the sign and arrow to the right, Caltrans "saved a buck, but killed a motorist" by simply removing the sign's arrow, leaving the sign to simply display "San Jose".   More signs are needed to properly segregate through traffic from I-680's two directions and further west, Foothill Blvd.

Another key contributor to the congestion of I-580, is the lack of the long-planned State Route 130 (SR130) which was designed to pull traffic to/from San Jose directly to Interstate I-5 at Patterson.  It is long past time to get the process started to study, fund, and built SR130 to accommodate and balance out traffic to San Jose, the third largest city in California, San Jose, with over 1 million motorist-inhabitants and the central Central Valley and all point East between SR152 (Pacheco Pass) and I-580, I680, and reaching to reduce traffic as far as I-80 to/from Sacramento and points East, North, and South (I-5).

I-580 lingering daily and weekend congestion and accidents is just another indication of the failure of MTC/BATA which seems more interested in social(ist) engineering, tolling--not fixing or expanding our highways--under the MTC/BATA's modern day motorists' Caligula, Steve Heminger, Executive Director, in conspiracy with the Democrat monopoly of politicians who sit on the MTC/BATA Board of Directors.

More to come....  

It turns out that during Governor Jerry Brown's China trip a couple of weeks ago, and, despite his strong and expressed desire for state-owned China companies to invest in California projects whilst he was touring China, the California HSR project the foundational two San Francisco Lennar housing projects at Hunter's Point and Treasure Island that were propositioned fell through first. This, apparently because of the US tax and other laws require transparency (per SF Chronicle's Andrew Ross column) and possibly an unwillingness of SF Mayer Ed Lee and others to succumb to the deep level of involvement that the Chinese insist upon when they agree to build major infrastructure projects, as is normal in third world developing nations, notably Africa but also southern Asia.

Nevertheless, keep an eye on China investment for future HSR contracts because China's state-owned companies can easily be low-bid contract costs.

Best regards.

=====Original Post: 03/26/2013=============
Calif. HSR and China ... Is the big dig Central Valley contract imminent?

The Daily Caller article about California Fracking (03262012) triggered this additional Freemotorist Comment from Jerry Brown's comments about Fracking: "we’re not jumping on any ideological bandwagons,” Brown added" 

Freemotorist follows-up on Brown's comment to extend them to the majority of Californians High Speed Rail concerns and, now, polled HSR opposition majority:
Righto, this from a man who had three full blown corruption events under his Oakland mayorship, accepted California public unions' collective bargaining--which neither his father-governor, nor FDR did knowing the likelihood of corruption. The obvious, corrupting, conflict-of-interest that has corrupted politics that turned California to a dirty brown state from The Golden State that Hiram Johnson so carefully set up to keep politics clean. 

Brown eagerly pursues this terrible, unnecessary, sneaky (you haven't seen anything yet!), dishonest, fraudulent, and, of course, bankrupting PPP-Corporate Cronyism. Just see the Nov. 2008 HSR campaign contributors (and those names who gave through Labor's Calif. Alliance for Jobs (CAJ) organization as well), then compare the list to the current Cal HSR contractors and vendors--wow, what a fantastic ROI! for some.
Brown wants to add this California High Speed Rail (HSR) project for his mantle via the corrupt and ruled unconstitutional fraudulent Nov. 2008 ballot measure (3rd CA Appellate Case ( http://www.hjta.org/press-releases/pr-jarvis-wins-major-victory-california-voters ).

--China's state-owned Railway Corporation Group will be the low-bidder (and riddled with corruption like most HSR projects worldwide) to kickoff construction in July 2013 between Madera and Bakersfield. http://www.cahsrblog.com/2010/12/siemens-and-kawasaki-angry-at-chinese-hsr-plans/

I expect an imminent announcement during or before Brown's China trip this April 2013 (next month). 

Here's why I believe the pieces to award the major construction contract to China are in place:
-- Brown's April visit, ostensibly to visit the newly reinstated California Trade Offices that will facilitate this and other investments in California, especially San Francisco (Folsom St project, etc)

-- Secy of State John Kerry plans to visit China in April as well (CCTV)

-- China's Xi Jingpin was elected up from VP to President, 2 wks ago, for the 10 year term. (CCTV
-- --Brown met with Xi Jinping last Feb. 2012 in LA to beg China's involvement in CA HSR.(Multiple sources, per web search) http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/16/chinese-vice-president-to-visit-la-thursday/

--The newly reconstituted China Railway Corporation Group which was $300 Billion in debt from all of China's rail and its other infrastructure construction projects in China and developing nations. (CCTV). HSR debt is a major components of 3 of the 5 financially troubled 5 EU PIIGS countries.

--Thus, China Railway Construction (CRWOY?  stock symbol) is now positioned early and swiftly to "invest" and manage the California project as one of its "Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) lead contractors.  California Labor will love this, eh? 
-- China Railway was inserted into the huge Lennar (think Pelosi kin) SF 12,500 Hunter's Point housing project as General Manager as part of the contract.  (SF Examiner, by Will Reisman., December 2013 and on-air KCBS a.m. Commentary by Phil Matier) 

--Not coincidentally, San Francisco is the northern terminus of CA's proposed HSR and Caltrain commuter rail electrification construction project and MOU.  (Bay Area News Group, SJ Mercury News et al). 
Note: Sun Tzu: The Art of War:  wrote "Be Swift" ("The Nine Grounds" chapter) and "One who takes position first on the battleground and awaits the enemy is at ease." 

--The November 2012 Prop. 30 tax ballot measure now provides the $180Million/year bond interest payments from the General Fund.  This, rather than to support California's needy courts, education, public safety, health and welfare programs that were cutback, as the voters were led. 
--New Prop. 30 new taxes will pay for HSR's California Infrastructure Revenue Bond sale of over $3.3 Billion of the last week or so. (KCBS) 
This provides the California financial security to China and other PPP members.
Yep, Jerry Brown, unlike his destructive "small is beautiful" first term, now has no idealogy, . Such is this failed Jesuit free-spirited Democrat governor.

More corroboration about an impending China-California HSR announcement, I believe..

--Treasury Secretary Lew was in China last week.  (CCTV)

Remember, Federal $3+ Billion will be involved in Calif. HSR, is not stalled by the Federal Sequester issue, thus, providing more assurance to the Chinese to invest in the HSR project.

--As recently as late last month, CEO Jeff Morales confirmed the project is on track to start construction in July 2013 in the Central Valley.  (Bay Area News Group).

--As Melissa Griffin mentioned in the March 24, 2013, S.F. Examiner article about the Democrat Legislature's denial of Senator Harkey's request for an HSR audit  of contracts already let,"...Speeding Out of Control", California taxpayer's can expect that the less-than-scrupulous HSR project contracts will have deliberate  huge and exceptional cancellation clauses' penalties to dissuade opponents of the HSR project and voters in a future initiative from killing the project.

It is important to remember that California politicians, ex-politicians/rail zealots, and their hired consultants who peddle these snake-oil tax-funded public projects with deliberate and fraudulent, exaggerated or understated, numbers (2.5 hours to LA, $40 Billion in 2008 ballot for the whole, ultimate project, exaggerated ridership and alternative highway costs, etc) are have never been subject to civil fines, penalties, let alone well-deserved fraud or racketeering criminal charges, jail, and fines.  They ought to be. Crimes, like those that private individuals would face for defrauding a public entity so openly,  would clean up a lot of this crap, save tax dollars, and right California's finances, and be sure that those who do this in tax-funded project after tax-funded project for their own glory--won't do it again...they would be in jail!

Omar

In a recent exchange with a new Civil Engineering graduate who lives in Newark, Ca, but whose first professional job he snagged is up I680 in Walnut Creek, Ca, the importance of California's freeway system for our economic vitality became immediately apparent.  

Our freeways, and thus our economically beneficial auto-mobility are being deliberately starved for funding in the S.F. Bay area by the Democrat monopolized  Metropolitan Transportation Commission/Bay Area Toll Authority members. They are led by the Executive Director, Steve Heminger, the modern day Herod-like Bureaucrat of the Single Occupant Vehicle driver; buttresed by Democrat-approved anti-automobile state legislation from the likes of our Senate's Socialist Pro-Tempore, Darrel Steinberg's SB375 (it demands a reduction of VMT without regard to VMT-to-GDP benefits, etc) and Fran Pavel's original AB32.  

I welcomed the new grad-new hefty salaried engineer to the real world of salaried, upwardly mobile exempt professionals who pay a lot of taxes which, in turn, get redistributed to those less desirous to make the sacrifices necessary earn a living in long days, often around 12 hours per day and who must suffer from MTC/BATA's socialist, social engineering transportation policies.  The latest of these are the expanding extortionist ripoff of Toll Lanes, such as those beginning in Democrat-monopoly led Santa Clara County's SR237 which the SCC VTA recently proudly boasted of its success in garning more money from SOV drivers who, first paid for its toll lane, believing it wouldl be for all general "mixed use" drivers, but VTA then converted it to a carpool HOV lane for 8 hours per weekday, but now, has increased the hours of SOV exclusion extended so more SOV drivers will be coerced to either pay a Heminger-fetish of variable Congestion-Priced amount (approaching a $1.00 -per mile cost, with no firm upper limit), or, sit in the remaining two lanes each way for hours longer--and denied access even on off hours except for the few ingress/egress gaps.  All this increased Toll Lane-related congestion  

The coming I680 toll lanes, too, will make this newbie S.F. Bay Area salaried professional's bad, bad, bad,  SOV (Single Occupant Vehicle) commute more difficult and/or expensive, and later even worse, during future punishing (and wholly unnecessary) toll lane hours on I-680.  MTC/BATA extortion of precious earnings from desperate-for-employment wage-earners, including those who earn good salaries and contracts that are enabled only by their highway auto-mobility, is, to me, a nearly criminal perversion of the role of public servants, whether elected or appointed. 

Congestion-Priced toll lanes create congestion artificially in those bad, bad, bad, SOV lanes of freedom that will never be expanded as long as the Democrat's can coerce (per former Federal Transportation Secretary LaHood's 2009 speech to the National Press Club) to decide to use the government-induced congestion brought on by the scarcity of highway and lane funding reductions--and tolling to increase commute to/from work costs.

https://www.google.com/webhp?source=search_app#hl=en&gs_rn=7&gs_ri=psy-ab&gs_mss=lahood%20coe&tok=vTes3aS848KFikD_Df26ig&cp=22&gs_id=2e&xhr=t&q=lahood+coerce+national&es_nrs=true&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=lahood+coerce+national&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44158598,d.b2I&fp=897ba9997041d6f1&biw=1320&bih=916 

The newbie commuting engineer has an alternate transit opportunity, BART, which reaches from Newark to Walnut Creek, but, of course, to government his extra time to use even this frequent, high-capacity, backbone bay area rail transit service may not work for him due to his variable hours' exempt-type work schedule. I've asked that if he tries BART sometimes, his comments would be of interest and learn from, especially compared to the benefits of SOV freeway travel, coffee-in-the-car, music, hands-free conference call participation, and other conveniences,  My ultimate interest to have BART Around The Bay (my other blog), to replace the deadly, outdated, congesting, disjointed Peninsula Caltrain Killtrain (3 people already dead this year on its urban tracks, as usual and consistent with the 12-16 who die each year on its tracks, like clockwork). BART is safer and would be optimized and better balanced if it went all the way around the Bay, two ways, as a "one-seat" rail transit solution to meet burgeoning job growth in the Bay Area, especially Silicon Valley and the Peninsula. See other blog discussions earlier here and in the BARTAroundTheBay.blogspot.com site.

I commuted for 3 years from South San Jose to Livermore (contra-commute), then for a year to Redwood Shores, then 15 years to Palo Alto, all with long hours just to get and keep good job$ for a nice lifestyle and more.  This was ONLY enabled by our publicly-owned freeways to allow maximization of salaries matched to my education and experience, not where I lived (i.e., Ninotchka-like Soviet ABAG T.O.D. stack & pack housing). 

Thus, I am intrigued by his situation and thoughts on his new work/mobility experiences and the value of freeway-enabled auto-mobility, its induced economic freedom, economic growth (including more taxes!), economic opportunity, and time value benefit. The late California Assemblyman, Walter Ingalls (who fought Jerry Brown1/Gianturco to get an 8-lane design width for SoCal's I-15 corridor) said that many people who use freeways don't realize that they are the most heavily used public buildings in the state, only horizontal, that's all.  Unfortunately, Big Government, Social Engineering Control-your-life Democrats take them for granted so easily-- except to extort money from hapless motorist, taxpayer, victims (and voters!). 

   

Omar 

A Freemotorist

With all the fuss that the politicians are doing about the cutbacks to critical and essential services, we read nothing about discussions about cutbacks to wasteful or unnecessary subsidized bigger government programs like the wholly unnecessary project that has driven 3 of the 5 EU PIIGS countries into huge debt, and, even driven China's state-owned Railway Corporation into a $300 Billion debt load, that is, High Speed Rail (HSR).  

US HSR would be nothing more than a land-based SupeSonic Transport ("SST", aka EU's Concorde, and the Soviet TU144) that was supposed to be the future of "fast, efficient transportation" "all" developed nations were pursuing in the 1970's.  It was uneconomic (even with $6,000 seat cost one-way, first-class), and so heavily subsidized such that all that were built were finally mothballed, put in museums, or have crashed.  Recall that the Democrat Congress in 1969 refused loans or guarantees for the SST because the aircraft manufacturers said they could not fund SST development and, correctly predicted that the SST aircraft could not be profitable for them.  Same with HSR.   

Obama and the Repub's ought to cancel the US HSR program, except perhaps the NE Acela Corridor. It is only being peddled out west by 30 year-long+ taxpayer funded gigolo-leech politicians, crony capitalists, and  specially created taxpayer-funded "advocates".  It is an invitation to Tammany Hall-like corruption and transit fraud. 

This must be stopped in the sequester funding cutbacks before California's Gov. Jerry Brown goes off to China in April to announce the contract award for the first phase construction that is scheduled to start near Fresno, CA in July 2013.  

Stop HSR featherbedding now!  

Create real US jobs, union jobs, and ancillary jobs x5 with housing construction! 

Omar

San Francisco Examiner Op-Ed: Omar's Freemotorist Comments :

San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee and others are correct about the need for innovation in the Bay Area. Innovation also applies to transportation as well as effective and optimized public budget spending and investment.  Mayor Lee and others need to take a hard look at HSR to support also extending BART Around The Bay (BAB), up the Peninsula using Federal and State funds.  This BART and Bay Area rail innovation starts with a study asap on the final 28 miles from the currently-planned BART South Bay station at Santa Clara University up the Peninsula to the existing, but underutilized BART station in Millbrae.

BAB will enable benefits of ten to 15 years of continuous construction jobs, about 2500 at least, up to additional 5 jobs for each high-paying, likely union craft, construction job that will be created as well. BART around the Bay will unite the Bay Area region's major travel, sports and other venues, downtown shopping areas, and universities while connecting San Francisco trip origination and destinations with SJ--and those cities in between on both sides of the Bay.

The above is consistent with the February 5, 2012, annual Joint Venture Silicon Valley Index outcome about improving regional.

BART around the Bay (BAB) will stop the Caltrain Killtrain deaths.  These include unfortunate, perhaps otherwise preventable suicides had early mental health intervention occurred, but it is too easy for despondent persons to simply step in front of an at street level 50 mph -75 mph racing only inches from unlimited jump off points.  As of December 31 2012, 188 persons have been slaughtered and violently but instantly dismembered on the tracks since 1995, 28 since 1/1/2011, 12 in 2012.  Others have surely died in hospital from injuries or had limb amputations or lifelong suffering from the at-grade Caltrain accidents' injuries.

BAB allow the TransBay Terminal to finish without the $2Bil gap projected currently to fund the outdated and disjointed Caltrain extension while enabling the rerouted SF Central Subway to station  there.  Replacing Caltrain with BART up the Peninsula as part of BAB, BART can expand its stations within the TransBay Terminal to handle ridership increases that result from the unified, single-ride, single-seat, single-ticket BART Around the Bay synergy.

BART is electrified, safer, quieter, more frequent, returns its surrounding area to neighborhood calmness, enables removal of the Dumbarton Rail pylons so the SoBay wetlands can restore to their natural 1910 state along with the salt flat reclamation, and most importantly, enables BART redundancy & SF access from two directions for emergencies or shutdowns (and shopping!). BART betters transit finances and allows for a 60-mile exclusive, safe Trail & bikeway between SJ to SF and interconnects with many East-West trails.  Finally, BART replacing Caltrain is fundable by the $4B from the 4 Caltrain multi-Billion$ projects, redirecting HSR funds to BART Around The Bay to close the 28 mile gap, and facilitates the sale of the Caltrain station and SF trackage for better city use so the land can be used to support the fantastic SOMa projects and growth, Warriors, AT&T Park, and even Mission Bay densification.   HSR helps none of this but bleeds Cities, unions, and so many social needs hurtfully...BART doesn't. BART is proven.  BART Around the Bay is good Innovation. Let's work on BAC and SVLG to bring BAB, replacing the outdated Caltrain Killtrain (Suicide Train?) with the magic of BAB by its 50th anniversary in 2022.

Note that in recent weeks, the TransBay Terminal or West Oakland station and other chokepoints have been intermittently not usable With BAB, BART can send its trains south via SJ and up the Peninsula to SF with minimal rider and no multi-transit, multi-transfer tumult or disruption, such as occurred on June 14 2012 and again over the past 2 weekends. 

BART Around the whole Bay (BAB) is compelling for the BART board to consider for real high-capacity transit via SF or SJ, that is, innovative public-transit. It is compelling for the opportunity to reclaim the SoBay Don Edwards Wildlife Refugefor nature and better Caltrain property use for SF growth and synergy.  Also, a complete BAB is a lasting POSITIVE legacy for all politicians, including Jerry Brown and Dan Richard and its supporters--in their lifetime!

HSR is a negative, losing legacy, like the now-failed, futuristic "SST" aka Concorde, Tupolev 144, because its cost and subsidies will drive this state into deep debt as HSR has done in Spain, Portugal, and Italy (the latter with huge 20,000 people protesting the latest extension), and not doing a darn thing for unemployment, except worsening it after construction completes. Spain = 25%!

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2012/06/innovation-key-city-s-transparency#disqus_thread#ixzz1zWkyBfFp

This is a Comment posted to SFStreetsblog.org website, 07/03/12, about the June 20, 2012 SPUR meeting to seek funds for the SF Peninsula's deadly Caltrain electrification and HSR as the sucker's bait for their support.

Comment"

SPUR, Transform, and other Green groups should not consider electrifying the deadly, long-outdated, noisy, congestion-causing Caltrain, (congestion of the 100,000 cars and both of their sets of brake particulates and) air pollution, caused by million-pound behemoths that pass within inches of people at high-speed (appropriately-name "bullet" (express) trains, on these 1863 tracks is outragous Luddite behavior at worst. At best, it is simply 'perfuming the pig" or, as Henry Ford and Steve Jobs would say " If I asked my customers (read-Caltrain riders/supporters--at any cost) what they would have wanted, they would have said a faster horse".  The modern day Caltrain is an outdated, once-useful Killtrain. For suicide-likely persons, Caltrain Killtrain functionality is an efficient horizontal, fast, guillotine that causes enormous psychological trauma  for those nearby, train engineers, emergency staff and Caltrain employees who pick up the dismembered body parts. 186 dead since 1/1/1995, 26 dead since 1/1/ 2011; 10 dead in 2012 already. How many more must die?
BART has far few fatalities--of any cause and fits perfectly with other transit around the Bay.  We need BART to replace Caltrain, station by station, over the next 10 years, from its current planned end at Santa Clara up to existing Millbrae/SFO stations...a distance, or gap, of only 28 miles, yes, only 28 miles to start planning now, to finally wrap the whole Bay Area into one-seat regional high-capacity, fast, clean, quieter, much safer, grade separated, integrated rail modern transit system, enabling 3 other improvements: A 60 mile adjacent trail/bikeway (like BART ElCerrito or SoSF arrangement)with a single track Freight line,  no HSR (Stops in SJ--where Future growth will be most), Removal of the Dumbarton Rail pylons--restoring the SoBay waters to their natural state for the first time since they were built in 1910! since BART will serve both sides of  of the Bay, including for emergency or redundant needs (TransBay Tube/West Oakland) obstructions, and, sale of SF Caltrain Station properties to accelerate SOMa SF growth and free up the land, all the while reducing suicides, improving One Bay Area Backbone rail transit to events and increasing BART efficiency and farebox recovery and ridership benefits.  How could any Green rail organization, or Business, or TransForm be at all opposed to this dream come true opportunity for the SF Bay Area? Pass this one to Gillian and Randy, and BART's board. Let's discuss further. BAB-BART around the Bay, replacing Caltrain tracks is a no-brainer, just as BART replaced the tracks of other rail carriers over the years.  The Bay Area is for Innovation not Stagnation and replicating the past with new perfume or faster horses (locomotives). BART up the Peninsula is certainly fundable over the next 10-15 (of solid, well-paying construction jobs, too) through 2006 1B, 2008 1A (redirected HSR $), Regional Measure 2 (From Dumbarton Rail), and our blessed, powerful state and federal legislators, just as they did the absurd Central Subway funding gyrations.

When I discuss this with people, they immediately support BART up the Peninsula and thus automatically, BAB - Bart Around the Bay,  over Caltrain, won't your organization, too?
Omar
BARTaroundthebay.blogspot.com

2012=10 Killtrain kills; Since 2011=26 Killtrain kills; Since 1995=186 Killtrain kills.  Does anyone care to do anything about it?  How many more must die before Caltrain dies--and is replaced by BART Around The Bay? 

According to Caltrain, Bay Area news services from Bay Area News Group, Redwood City (and other) Patches, KGO, KCBS, KLIV, and others, Thursday, June 21, 2012 around 5pm a wheelchair bound male was hit and killed by the Caltrain in San Mateo--again.  I've labeled this outdated, noisy, dangerous, deficit-laden train, for more accuracy in my view, as the Peninsula "Killtrain".

According to the news sources this is the 10th death by Caltrain this year.  There have been others hit and injured, but without news followup to know their current status. 

This death is the 26th since Jan. 2011 and 186th since 1/1/ 1995. I don't know the Caltrain killings on this outdated, outmoded train, especially the appropriately named (Baby) Bullet Express Trains that fly through stations at 50+mph within inches of people on the train loading pads.  How many more must die before this train is phased out and replaced by the ONE Bay Area modern, high-capacity, electrified, clean, quieter, One Seat, budget surplus -- BART? How long?  What will it take to replace the politicians, most all part of the Democrat "Body Snatched" Bay Area monopoly of stultified, arrogant, complacent politicians who cannot see or understand the huge benefits of BART, not Caltrain, not HSR who only serve their narrow special interests, but cost us dearly. 

Accidents norh of BART Millbrae are so unnecessary because Caltrain is just a waste of scarce transit money that is duplicative of the more expansive, electrified, safer BART in the same 15 mile corridor. Officials and politicians just need to start a study of the final 28 mile BART gap from Millbrae down to Santa Clara where planning is underway to extend it. Caltrain can be replaced, station by station by BART over the next few years to both save our tax dollars while connecting the whole Bay Area with the "one seat" BART solution around the Bay. BART moves more people with a budget surplus, single administration and operations, cleaner, more frequently, and quieter--and freeing up the track ROW for a 60 mile SJ-SF safe, interconnected pedestrian/bike trail adjacent to BART (and a single Freight track again)--while providing thousands of jobs for the next 10-15 years!. HSR can stop in SJ, if not stopped entirely.  In addition, when BART has problems with the TransBay tube, BART can simply run longer, more frequent trains south--around the Bay to SF easily enough--when BART is around the Bay and replaces Caltrain. This would have helped last week, when BART equipment was damaged in the TOD Senior Housing construction fire adjacent to the tracks.  

This would also save about $2Bil in Transbay terminal costs since BART will already go through it and no Caltrain will exist any longer.

 For south of Millbrae, such as Burlingame, San Mateo, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, all of which have suffered fatal accidents in the past year (and before, of course: 186 dead since 1995, 26 dead since 1/1/12, and as Casandra reports, 10 this year already) extending BART to join the whole Bay Area is fundable ~$8Bil, half from the 4 "improvements" (only a "faster horse", per Jobs/Ford quotes) to Caltrain (SF Extension, Dumbarton Rail Bridge $ diversion to BART--return the SoBay/Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge to its pre-DR Bridge 1910 natural state, Electrification, Grade Crossings), and the other half from diverted HSR and other Calif bonds, 2006 1B, 2008 1A, Regional Measure 1. Recall that in the past few years, both San Mateo and Santa Clara voters have voted to tax themselves for better transit--including BART. The decades ago votes against BART are history only opponents choose to raise this non-issue. Lives and our quality of life are at stake. It is time to focus on THE Bay Area modern transit backbone, safe, clean, rail solution--and free-up/sell resources including the SOMA Caltrain station and ROW to better uses that fit SOMA's revitalization, from Warriors to Giants venues to offices (jobs), homes, and shopping (tax income). 

Politicians like Jerry Hill (well over 200 dead since he has been in public office), Anna Eshoo, Jackie Speier (who built her public ethos on so many deaths around and in her career--and has a Caltrain Locomotive emblazoned with her name, appropriately enough), Rich Gordon, etc. 

Omar. A Freemotorist.