Quick Take
Members of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission voted 9-1 to pursue countywide intercity passenger rail service, despite facing nearly $1 billion in bridge repairs. RTC staff have said the intercity plan is the best shot at getting state and federal dollars for the rail project.
Members of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission backed a plan to pursue intercity passenger rail service Thursday, a move that RTC staff have said gives the vision of a 22-mile passenger train the best shot at receiving state and federal funding.
In a 9-1 vote, commissioners directed RTC staff to explore plans to construct a countywide passenger train line as intercity rail, which typically entails faster vehicles but fewer stops compared to other options like light rail or commuter rail, which usually serve a single metropolitan area with more frequent stops.
In a report to the commission and in a previous public meeting, RTC staff pointed to the California State Rail Plan, as well as a massive federal infrastructure spending bill passed by the previous Congress, as reasons why local officials should explore intercity rail over other options.
Updated in January, the state rail plan envisions a fully interconnected and emissions-free transit network across the state by 2050. According to RTC staff, the state rail plan includes a vision of intercity rail service from Santa Cruz to Pajaro on the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which earmarked $1.2 trillion in federal infrastructure spending, also includes a program to help develop intercity passenger rail.
Along with voting to pursue intercity rail, the commission also asked staff to try to find options to shave down the nearly $1 billion estimated price tag to replace and repair more than 30 bridges countywide in order to accommodate a train.
At an information session last week, staff from the RTC and Nebraska-based engineering consultant firm HDR, Inc. said that passenger rail service in the county would likely require replacing 28 bridges and repairing or strengthening another five, at a cost of about $980 million.
On Thursday, commissioner Mike Rotkin said that the unfortunate reality is that transportation projects of all kinds are notoriously expensive.
“I’ll put money down on this: When they’re all done with this thing, it’s going to be a lot more than a billion dollars before we’re finished with it,” he said. “That’s what these things cost, let’s get real about it. That’s not enough to make us walk away from something that’s going to make a difference 50 or 100 years from now.”
Commission newcomer and District 2 County Supervisor Kim De Serpa was the lone “no” vote. She said she’s “not necessarily against a rail plan,” but wanted the RTC to first focus on completing the trail portion of its planned Coastal Rail Trail before pushing ahead on a plan for a train — even if it means removing the rails to do so.
De Serpa said she grew up in Monterey County, which has had a widely used trail for years, and that South and Mid-County residents have waited too long for a trail of their own – and that the planned rail service would not get people close enough to destinations like workplaces.
“I don’t think you truly understand the pain of sitting in this traffic day after day after day. No one seems to care, especially in North County, because it doesn’t really affect them,” De Serpa said. “But for people [in South County], many of them [are] people of color and young women who are starting their careers in health care, UCSC or county government who have to sit in horrible traffic [and] are tired of it.”
Commissioner and Watsonville City Councilmember Vanessa Quiroz-Carter, who works at UC Santa Cruz, disagreed, saying a trail would not help her commute at all.
“What am I supposed to do, ride my bike to work? I need a train, so I’m for the train and I’ve been for the train,” she said, adding that other counties have made a train work. “We keep hearing the same tired arguments that it’s not going to help people who commute and that’s ridiculous to even say.”
When it comes to the high costs of the bridge work needed for a train, Commissioner Andy Schiffrin, alternate for District 3 County Supervisor Justin Cummings, suggested that RTC staff explore ways to help lower the cost, mentioning the idea of rehabilitating some bridges instead of replacing them. “I think, from my point of view, having one or two alternatives that would provide for a less expensive approach would be appreciated,” he said.
RTC executive director Sarah Christensen expressed reservations about exploring alternatives, saying the additional work to study them could add more time and money to the project. Some alternatives might not be better, she added, offering a hypothetical in which crews reinforced a wooden bridge instead of replacing it, only to find it requires much more disruptive maintenance over time than a new bridge.
“If we have to shut down the facility to do maintenance all the time on these old bridges, it’s not really going to result in favorable ridership,” she said. “If we’re having to take it out of service, and if people are really depending on this type of facility to get where they need to go, we want it to be reliable.”
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