High Cost Rail - Part 11 Your Turn

Tomorrow, April 26th at 5pm, your opportunity to comment on the EIR that set Pacheco Pass as the preferred route into the Bay Area expires.  If you think this is a bad idea--and if you live in B'game IT IS A BAD IDEA, then please send your comments to the HSRA.

Our local activists at HSR-PREP suggest that you use a modification of their sample letter at http://hsr-prep.blogspot.com/  and:

Submit it to the HSR Authority in one of 3 ways:

• Email to: [email protected].  Include this subject line: Bay Area to Central Valley Revised Draft Program EIR Material Comment
• Fax to: (916) 322-0827
• Mail to the address on the letter .

You have all day Monday so please put fingers to keyboards and make your voice heard.

Comments

[pat giorni]

And please email a cc or forward of your letter to: [email protected] because they are keeping track of comments submitted to ensure that none "slip through the cracks".

[Ron Fulderon]

Can someone provide a link to why the Pacheco Pass route is any worse for Burlingame than the other route.

[Joanne]

In a nutshell, Ron, the Pacheco Pass route takes the HSR along 152 past Casa de Fruta, up through Gilroy and on north to ruin the Peninsula. The other route that was explored was to take the HSR through the Altamont Pass and through the East Bay to SF (and avoid the Peninsula altogether).
Both routes, of course, have the HSR literally running side by side (and thus duplicating) other money-losing public transit systems (CalTrain and BART). Our government at work -- never missing an opportunity to waste your money.

[Ron Fulderon]

I thought the Altamont Pass route would cross the bay at the Dumbarton bridge and come up the peninsula from Menlo Park/Redwood City, making it just as bad. Apparently there is a different interpretation of the Altamont pass route going up through Oakland?

I support trains but not this one. Without a working public transit infrastructure in place at the destinations the idea is ludicrous.

[fred]

I believe Ron is correct, the Altamont Pass route would still come through the Caltrain corridor north of the Dumbarton Bridge.

[Joanne]

oops . . . maybe so.

[jennifer]

True, but the difference as I understand it is that half(?) the trains would have branched off already, so we'd have fewer trains (disruptions) blazing through here. I agree that this solution is far from optimal and personally, I think the whole project is a shameful waste, but just getting them to look at another option seriously would be an improvement. Also, I believe with Altamont, 100 miles of track (thus travel time) are reduced - see link http://calrailfoundation.org/HSR_files/1109waller2.pdf.

[jennifer]

(sorry, I think the last link doesn't work- this one may!)
http://www.calrailfoundation.org/HSR.html