SAN FRANCISCO — An independent panel examining the design and repair of the Transbay Transit Center has determined the $2.2 billion facility is safe to reopen, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports a date for returning service to the facility has not yet been set.
While preparations for reopening the center have been under way since work was completed on two cracked steel beams [see “Repairs complete on San Francisco transit center,” Trains News Wire, May 10, 2019], the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which oversees the facility, was awaiting the report from the engineering panel before setting the opening date. The authority has previously indicated it could take up to four weeks to reopen once the facility was cleared for use.
The facility — a bus terminal that was also designed for eventual use as San Francisco’s station for the California high speed rail system — opened in August 2018 but was closed six weeks later when the first cracked beam was discovered. [See “Future home of CAHSR closed following discovery of cracked beam,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 26, 2018.] A second cracked beam was found shortly thereafter.
Once again your reporting fails to mention that the facility is also intended to be the downtown station for the extension of CalTrain from its current terminus at 4th and King. The downtown extension of Caltrain is much more likely to be built than CaHSR and will be much more beneficial. Your coverage always misses this part of the story.