CityLab Daily: Silicon Valley Subway Project Balloons in Cost
Also today: The rise and fall of Brutalism, and have the bedbugs really spread to London?
The long-awaited project to extend the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to Silicon Valley is set to become one of the most expensive transit projects in the US, after new estimates put its price tag at $12.2 billion – up 77% from 2020 projections. The project will extend the subway six miles through San Jose, California, into the smaller city of Santa Clara, where many tech workers live.
Subway planners attribute the new price tag to inflation, but the US has a long track record of transportation projects that balloon in costs. Research has pointed to a confluence of factors beyond inflation, including ineffective project management and over-design. Trains are expected to run through San Jose in 2036 — two years later than the previous forecast, Eliyahu Kamisher and Skylar Woodhouse report. Today on CityLab: Silicon Valley Subway Cost Poised to Surge to $12.2 Billion