Quick Take
The long-sought train in Santa Cruz County will never be built because it is too expensive, writes local philanthropist Bud Colligan, who has studied the train issue for more than 10 years. Colligan thinks the Regional Transportation Commission staff needs to be more publicly open about the financial realities of the train plan. “There is no way taxpayers will support a $4 billion price tag for this train boondoggle,” he writes.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
The recent cost estimate to repair or replace 33 bridges and trestles along Santa Cruz County’s rail corridor came in at $1 billion. Yes, you read that correctly – billion.
This estimate comes before any costs for new tracks, trains, stations, parking, retaining walls, fences, crossing upgrades and annual operating expenses. To put $1 billion into perspective – that’s $3,636 for every county resident. Also, $1 billion would be enough to resurface and repair the county’s entire road network.
MORE ON THE RAIL AND TRAIL: Lookout news coverage | Community Voices opinion
If the past is prologue, the $1 billion cost estimate is a mere down payment of the total bill for taxpayers. In 2014, the same type of “estimate” in the Regional Transportation Commission’s Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail study said that the 32-mile trail from Davenport to Watsonville would cost $127 million. Even though only 1.3 miles have been finished in 11 years, the construction bids, new estimates and actual costs now approach $500 million.
The same cavalier “planning” is true for the train. In 2015, the RTC’s Rail Transit Feasibility Study reported that a diesel train would cost $176 million. Now we have an estimate of $1 billion for the bridges and trestles alone. Being charitable, let’s use the cost multiplier of the trail at 4 times that amount, and we can see that the train will cost $4 billion or more.
What is the response of some commissioners on the RTC?
They have asked staff if all the bridges and trestles really need to be repaired or replaced. These same commissioners effusively praise staff when they get “studies” they like, and request staff to change the study when it provides an answer they don’t like. This type of do-nothing, kick-the-can-down-the-road governance of the past 30 years is why Santa Cruz County is mired in an affordability crisis created by a housing shortage, transportation gridlock, lack of good jobs and homelessness.
Several commissioners continually repeat a mantra that a train will reduce traffic on Highway 1. This assertion has been repeatedly disproved by the RTC’s own studies. In 2021, the RTC and Santa Cruz Metro received the Transit Corridors Alternatives Analysis, another multimillion-dollar study funded by the taxpayers. It said: “The traffic volumes or travel times on Highway 1 are not forecasted to change as a result of implementation of transit on the Santa Cruz Branch Line Right-of-Way because of the latent demand on the corridor. Any potential reduction in congestion will likely move vehicles off the arterials and onto Highway 1.”
If you need real-world proof, just go to Santa Rosa or Novato and see how much the SMART train has reduced traffic – it hasn’t. I have looked at the facts over and over for the past 10 years, and it’s why I supported Measure D in 2022.
Railbanking the corridor and building the trail on the rail bed has always been the best way to move forward, and could save decades of wasted time and money. Thousands of miles of trails have been built across the country using railbanking by every type of community, both conservative and liberal. It’s not an issue that should polarize us. Yet, at every meeting, we hear how difficult railbanking is and how much time it will take. If the corridor had been railbanked in 2014, these objections would be moot and we would have a 32-mile trail today.
The RTC staff needs to publicly present commissioners with the reality of the situation: The Train Is Dead.
There is no way taxpayers will support a $4 billion price tag for this train boondoggle. It doesn’t reduce traffic on Highway 1 and it doesn’t go within a mile of most major employers in Santa Cruz County. Think how we could actually spend billions to improve transportation in the county, or housing, jobs, education and health care. It’s time to admit the obvious.
Will someone please tell the RTC?
Bud Colligan is a longtime resident of Santa Cruz County, local philanthropist and proud supporter of Greenway.