Rep Honda joins US Department of Transportation Undersecretary Roy Kienitz at BART Silicon Valley Project PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 19 October 2010 11:37

SAN JOSE, CA – Today, US Representative Michael Honda (CA-15) hosts a visit by US Department of Transportation Undersecretary Roy Kienitz at the BART Silicon Valley Project worksite in Milpitas, CA.  House Appropriator Representative Mike Honda, who has secured over $11 million for the BART Silicon Valley Project, invited Undersecretary Kienitz, principal advisor to US Transportation Secretary LaHood on California transportation projects, to survey the BART project.  Congressman Honda will be joined by Congresswoman Lofgren and representatives from Valley Transportation Authority, Caltrain, and the Mineta Transportation Institute.  The BART site visit takes place from 1:45 – 2:10 p.m. today at the BART Silicon Valley worksite on Dixon Landing Road. (Nearest address is 919 Hansen Ct., Milpitas, CA.  Look for BART signs.)

Transportation projects often require 80% of federal funds to subsidize 20% of state and local funds.  The BART Silicon Valley Project, however, is uniquely, and almost entirely, state- and-locally-funded.  Rep Honda is working to help secure the remaining 15% in funds from the Federal New Starts Program to augment the 85% of the total project cost coming from state and local funds.

“The BART Silicon Valley Project is critical to the connectivity of the entire Bay Area rail transportation system,” said Rep Honda. “The BART extension to Silicon Valley will extend the BART system 16 miles south from a future Warm Springs Station in the city of Fremont, through the cities of Milpitas and San Jose, to a terminus at the Caltrain Commuter Rail Station in Santa Clara.”  

“The BART project represents the final link needed to connect all of the rail systems around San Francisco Bay,” continued Honda. “The BART project enhances regional commuter connectivity, alleviates traffic congestion, accommodates the future travel demand on our growing region, improves access to employment, education, medical, and retail centers for Silicon Valley constituents, and maximizes public transit usage among countless high tech businesses and other employment centers in Silicon Valley.”

For every dollar spent on construction, operations and maintenance of the BART project, $4 to $10 is expected to be reinvested in the region’s economy, which is why this project has the strong support of Silicon Valley’s local communities. In 2000, a ½ cent transit sales tax for the BART extension was approved Santa Clara County voters approved with 70% of the vote.  In 2008, a 1/8 cent sales tax for the BART extension with approved with about 67% of the vote.  In July 2010, a statewide telephone survey of Californians by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates and Public Opinion Strategies, which assessed attitudes toward the state’s high speed rail project, showed that more than seven in ten voters would like to see the project built.

"As Silicon Valley drives the world's Innovation Economy, our workers cannot sit idle in traffic as they drive to work," said Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino.  "That is why we are honored by today's visit and its emphasis on viable options to the automobile - such as bringing BART to Silicon Valley, High-Speed Rail and building communities more accessible to bike, walk and live."

“I am very grateful that the administration has recognized the importance of improving California’s and the Bay Area’s transportation infrastructure, and the key role that High Speed Rail plays in determining the future of California’s transportation, environment, and economy,” said Councilmember Ash Kalra.  “Now more than ever, all of the regional partners in this bold project must work together and present a united front in our dealings with our federal partners so that we can guarantee that our residents get the transportation infrastructure that they need and deserve.”

“The other critical transportation project for the Bay Area is construction of the San Francisco - San Jose Corridor of the California High Speed Rail System,” said Rep Honda. “Diridon Station, which is being designed as the state’s largest multimodal transit hub, will offer efficient, convenient passenger connections to the high-speed train system, BART, seven other intercity, regional, and local rail and bus system connections, and the Mineta San Jose Airport.”

Along with the construction and investments to Caltrain, the expansion of Diridon Station is part of the corridor’s plans for use of the $2.25 Billion in ARRA funds that was awarded to California last year. These ARRA funds are vital to the San Francisco - San Jose Corridor, and are needed to show federal commitment to the entire California High Speed Rail Project.

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