"That's technically true, but the idea has been floating around for decades, and the SF Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) produced a serious amount of work on the proposal in 2014. Since then, we instead got the Central Subway to Chinatown, which arrived a full five years behind schedule, and with insane cost overruns that sent its original $650 million price tag up to $2 billion."
"But as Supervisor Sauter stressed at Monday's Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation committee meeting, we're doing the early planning now so that we can build the thing someday later a day when Donald Trump is no longer in office, because the project would be very much reliant on federal funding (perhaps needing as much as 50% of the money from the federal government)."
"I am under no illusion that there is a clear path to construction of the subway in the next few years, not with this administration in Washington, Sauter said at Monday's hearing. But after Trump's term ends, Sauter felt we will have a good case ready to compete for the funds at a federal level. A Monday Chronicle article on the Central Subway extension pegged the estimated cost of this North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf subway extension at $1.3 billion."
Supervisor Danny Sauter launched a campaign to extend the Central Subway to North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf and won an initial City Hall hearing. The extension concept has existed for decades and SFMTA produced substantial planning work in 2014. The Central Subway to Chinatown opened five years late and had cost overruns that raised its projected cost from $650 million to $2 billion. Muni faces a $322 million deficit, making a major construction project unaffordable now. Early planning aims to prepare a competitive federal funding application, since up to 50% of costs might require federal support. The outdated 2014 estimate pegged the extension at $1.3 billion; SFMTA indicated 2020 assumptions were being revised.
Read at sfist.com
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