SFCTA allocates funds to advance Phase 2 TTC/DTX engineering work

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
image description
A rendering of a tunnel as part of the DTX project.
SFCTA

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) approved $5.46 million in funds to advance engineering associated with the second phase of the Transbay Transit Center/Caltrain Downtown Extension (TTC/DTX) project.

The money comes from and allocation of Proposition K, a voter-approved sales tax that funds a General Fund. The allocation totals $5,464,675 and includes $4,549,675 for DTX preliminary engineering and $915,000 for a Tunneling Options Engineering Study. TTC/DTX is the largest project in the Prop K Expenditure Plan, which designates up to $270 million (in 2003 dollars) for this purpose.

SFCTA says the TTC/DTX project will transform downtown San Francisco and regional transportation by replacing the outmoded terminal with a modern terminal; extending Caltrain 1.3 miles from Fourth and King streets to the new TTC at First and Mission streets, with accommodations for future high-speed rail service and creating a new transit-friendly neighborhood.

Parsons Transportation Group extended a design contract for the project in 2014 and will incorporate feedback from the SFCTA Board to bring design of the DTX to 30 percent for new elements and modified elements (per the SEIR/SEIS) that are common to all alignments being evaluated in the Planning Department’s Railyard Alternatives and I-280 Boulevard Feasibility Study. The work is scheduled to be complete by December 2017.

The allocated funding will also go toward an engineering study to analyze opportunities to reduce surface impacts due to construction of DTX. The subject request to fund a Tunnel Options Engineering Study would focus on three areas: Throat cut-and-cover (west side of the Transbay Transit Center where three tracks need to fan into six tracks); Townsend Cut-and-Cover and the Third/Townsend ventilation structure site. The work is scheduled to be complete within three months of issuing a Notice to Proceed.

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