The T Third Line, shown here at 4th and King streets, will travel underground through SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown once the Central Subway is complete.

Last week we received great news from our funding partners in Washington, D.C. As part of the federal budget for the current fiscal year, the Central Subway was awarded about $142 million through the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program.

In total, the FTA has committed $942.2 million in New Starts funds to construct the Central Subway, which will extend the Muni Metro T Third Line through SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown. The funds are awarded annually throughout the course of the project. Due to sequestration, this year’s award is about $8 million less than President Obama recommended; however, there is no change to the FTA’s total funding commitment.

For the upcoming fiscal year, President Obama’s budget, announced last Wednesday, recommends $150 million in New Starts funds for the project (see page 67 of this document).

Federal sources are providing about half of the funding for the entire Third Street Light Rail Transit Project, which includes the existing T Third Line and the Central Subway. The remaining half is from state and local sources. For more on funding for the Central Subway Project, visit our website.

We thank our federal funding partners for their continued support for the Central Subway, an essential upgrade to San Francisco’s public transportation system.

When the Central Subway is complete, T Third Line trains will continue straight at the intersection of 4th and King streets instead of turning right onto King Street.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded $85 million in federal funding to the Central Subway Project. The funding, from the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program, was awarded following approval last month of the Central Subway’s Full Funding Grant Agreement, the formal commitment of federal funding through New Starts.

“Today, San Franciscans sick of suffering the overcrowded 30 Stockton have something to celebrate,” said Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in a statement last week. “Thanks to the signing of the recent Full Funding Grant Agreement, we can applaud $85 million in funding for the Central Subway – creating jobs, expanding public transit and bringing our city closer together.”

The funds were included in the federal Transportation Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012. In total, New Starts will provide $942.2 million to extend the Muni Metro T Third Line through SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown.

Federal, state and local officials gathered in Union Square yesterday to announce approval of federal funding for the Central Subway Project.

Yesterday Mayor Edwin M. Lee and key officials announced that an agreement dedicating $942.2 million in federal funds to the Central Subway Project has been approved. This major funding news finalizes the financing for extending the Muni Metro T Third Line through SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Administrator Peter Rogoff, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu and other federal, state and local officials joined Mayor Lee to announce the approval of funding through the FTA’s New Starts program.

“When the Central Subway is complete, our city will see a stronger economy, a larger workforce, decreased pollution, less congestion, and faster, safer commutes,” said Leader Pelosi. “Working with partners and leaders from government, business, and the community, this project will serve as an economic engine for our city, improve and enhance our infrastructure, and connect the diverse communities of San Francisco.”

A major improvement over existing transit service along the congested 4th Street and Stockton Street corridors, the Central Subway will cut travel times by more than half compared to current Muni bus routes. In addition, construction of this major infrastructure project will create thousands of jobs, both directly and indirectly, and provide a boost to the local economy.

The announcement took place at a ceremony held at the future site of the Union Square/Market Street Station. More information about the Central Subway and this exciting funding news is available in this press release from Mayor Lee.

Here are some photos of the event:

Secretary LaHood announced approval of the federal funds, earning a round of applause from attendees.

Democratic Leader Pelosi, a longtime advocate for the Central Subway, spoke about her experiences trying to catch Muni buses along the congested Stockton Street corridor. Crowded buses crawl along Stockton Street at a rate as slow as three miles per hour.

Senator Feinstein, a strong supporter of the project, spoke about the major improvements to public transit the Central Subway will provide. With the addition of the Central Subway, the T Third Line is projected to become the most heavily used line in the Muni Metro system by 2030.

Congresswoman Speier spoke about the major transit investments planned for the Bay Area, including the Central Subway, California high-speed rail and the electrification of Caltrain. Investments like these will vastly improve the Bay Area’s transportation network.

FTA Administrator Rogoff signs a ceremonial document confirming the New Starts grant. New Starts has contributed $92.4 million to the Central Subway Project to date. The remaining amount will be distributed in annual allocations as the project progresses.

The Central Subway will connect to BART, Caltrain, Muni Metro, Muni bus routes, Muni cable car lines and, in the future, high-speed rail, significantly improving San Francisco’s and the Bay Area’s public transportation network. It is expected to open to the public in 2019.

The Central Subway will tie directly into the proposed future high-speed rail service at the 4th and King street Caltrain station. (Photo credit: Bill Lim, Flickr)

Today at their meeting in Ontario, Calif., the California Transportation Commission unanimously approved a commitment of $61.3 million in state high-speed rail connectivity funds to the Central Subway Project, reaffirming the Central Subway’s key role in enhancing California’s regional transportation network.

The Central Subway, which will extend the Muni Metro T Third Line from the Caltrain station at 4^th and King streets through SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown, will offer direct and proximate access to the proposed blended high-speed rail system at 4^th and King streets. The Central Subway ties directly into the future high-speed rail service at 4th and King station, and it will also be just three blocks from the Transbay Transit Center, the planned terminus for high-speed rail. When the Central Subway is completed, it will provide significant light rail connectivity for high-speed rail and Transbay Transit Center patrons, enabling travel throughout San Francisco.

“We thank our state funding partners for their consistent and strong support as we work to improve San Francisco’s public transportation system and enhance our regional transit network,” said Mayor Edwin M. Lee. “By providing a convenient transfer to California’s high-speed rail service, the Central Subway will be a key component in improving mobility, reducing emissions and better connecting our city.”

The connectivity funding comes from the state High Speed Rail Train Bond Program, approved by voters as Proposition 1A in 2008. The program will invest $950 million in capital improvements to eligible rail lines around the state.

For more on today’s California Transportation Commission vote, check out this press release from the SFMTA.

The Central Subway will vastly improve travel along crowded Stockton Street. (Photo by Flickr photographer Frank Chan.)

The Central Subway Project will receive $48.4 million in funding from a state transit-investment program, allowing for continued progress on extending the T Third Line through SoMa, Union Square and Chinatown.

The funds come from the state Public Transportation Modernization, Improvement, and Service Enhancement Account (PTMISEA) Program, which funds a variety of transit-related improvements, including capital projects. In total, California has committed to invest about $307.8 million in PTMISEA funds to construct the Central Subway.

In a press release from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Director of Transportation Edward D. Reiskin reaffirmed the Central Subway’s benefits for San Francisco’s transit system: “The Central Subway will cut peak-period travel times in half compared to current transit options, easing travel through the busy 4^th Street and Stockton Street corridors,” Reiskin said. “Our partners in Sacramento have consistently recognized that these projects are key to improving transportation in San Francisco now and for future generations.”

For more information about this exciting funding news, check out this press release from the SFMTA.

With support from Washington and continued progress on construction and contracts, the Central Subway Project has accomplished major milestones in recent months. More achievements – including a commitment from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to provide nearly $1 billion in New Starts funding – are on the horizon, paving the way for tunneling and station construction to begin this year.

Extending Muni’s T Third Line through SoMa and into Union Square and Chinatown will benefit thousands of San Franciscans and vastly improve the Bay Area’s transportation network. The Central Subway will reduce travel times for residents, workers and visitors traveling through a congested corridor that has long been in need of improved public transit.

We on the Central Subway team believe it is important to provide useful, relevant information to the public about the project as it continues to advance. We have put together this blog post to answer questions that have arisen about the project’s costs, ridership, impacts on Muni and more.

Ridership

The T Third Line is expected to become Muni’s most heavily used light rail line soon after the Central Subway opens. It will travel through some of San Francisco’s most densely populated areas – and also through several areas that are expected to see remarkable population growth, including Mission Bay, Bayview/Hunter’s Point and Yerba Buena. More than half of San Francisco’s jobs and a significant proportion of projected job growth are located within the neighborhoods the T Third Line will serve. It will be an essential artery for travel around San Francisco, and also for connecting customers to the Bay Area’s transportation network.

• T Third Line ridership: By 2030, ridership on the T Third Line is projected to be about 20 percent higher than on the most heavily used existing Muni line, the N Judah Line. About 65,000 customers per day are projected to ride the T Third Line in 2030.

• Central Subway ridership: The Central Subway is expected to attract extremely high usage compared to other light rail projects around the country (see the table below). Only the Downtown Subway in Los Angeles is projected to have more daily boardings per mile in 2030. For just the Central Subway portion of the T Third Line, ridership in 2030 is projected at 35,100 daily boardings.

• Ridership in 2019: Ridership projections for the entire T Third Line are 43,700 for the Central Subway’s opening year.

Table: FY 2030 Daily Boardings per Mile for Light Rail Projects around the Country

*http://www.fta.dot.gov/publications/reports/reports_to_congress/planning…

Impacts on Muni

The Central Subway will vastly improve Muni service for customers traveling along the busy 4^th Street and Stockton Street corridors. Currently it takes more than 20 minutes – and sometimes much longer – during peak travel times to go from Caltrain to Chinatown on the Muni 30 Stockton or the 45 Union/Stockton. The route is crowded, and buses are consistently packed to capacity. The Central Subway will complete this 1.7-mile trip in just eight minutes. It will also be able to accommodate expected increases in ridership.

When the Central Subway opens to the public in 2019, it will not increase Muni fares, and its impacts on existing Muni service and the SFMTA operating budget will be modest:

Service:

• Service on most Muni bus routes will not be affected by the opening of the Central Subway. The only exception is the 30 Stockton’s short route. This route runs between the Caltrain Station and North Point and Van Ness. It will be eliminated once the Central Subway opens because the Central Subway will cover almost the exact same route.

• No service reductions are planned for the full 30 Stockton route, which runs between Caltrain and the Marina. The same is true for the 45 Union/Stockton, the 8X/8AX/8BX Bayshore Express and the other routes that operate along the Central Subway alignment.

Fares:

• Claims that fares will increase as a result of funding the Central Subway are without merit. Funding for the project comes from federal, state and local sources, not from the SFMTA’s operating budget.

• Even if the SFMTA does issue revenue bonds, the revenue bonds that would be issued would come from sources already included in the SFMTA’s budget. No increase to the operating budget would be required to issue bonds.

Operating budget:

• The Central Subway, with its 35,100 projected daily boardings, will increase the SFMTA’s annual operating budget by less than 0.25 percent. When the Central Subway opens to the public in 2019, it is expected to increase the SFMTA’s overall operating budget by $1.76 million. By 2030, the cost of operating the subway is projected to be $6.89 million. These numbers are included in the FY2012 New Starts submission.

• The challenges that the SFMTA faces with regard to its operating budget are driven by current budgetary challenges and not by the addition of much-needed rail service.

Cost

Constructing a new subway beneath a vibrant urban core like downtown San Francisco is a lot of work, and it requires a major investment. Included in the cost of the Central Subway Project are a number of major construction components, including tunneling under a densely populated urban area, constructing three subway stations and a surface-level station, installing operating systems and train tracks, purchasing new light rail vehicles and planning and administering the project.

Here is more information about the Central Subway’s estimated cost:

• The earliest project cost estimate of $647 million was based on an early conceptual engineering plan. The estimate served as a placeholder until a more accurate cost could be calculated. Accounting for inflation, this estimate equals $995 million in 2011 dollars.

• The current cost estimate increased to $1.6 billion for the following reasons:
  • The proposed project alignment changed from 3^rd Street to 4^th Street, and the tunneling method changed from shallow tunneling to deep tunneling. These changes will result in faster travel times for Central Subway customers, a quicker construction timeline and reduced surface disruption during construction. During the preliminary engineering phase, an in-depth cost analysis incorporating these changes increased the cost estimate.
  • The FTA performed a risk assessment on the project as part of the New Starts process. They recommended increasing the cost estimate by $200 million to allow for additional cost- and schedule-related contingencies. The SFMTA’s baseline budget for the Central Subway Project has remained at $1.578 billion since the addition of these FTA-recommended contingencies.

• The cost per mile of building the Central Subway is less than half the cost per mile of New York City’s two subway projects.

• When taken together, the per mile cost of constructing both phases of the T Third Line will be significantly less than light rail projects in Los Angeles and Seattle that also include a subway component.

FTA: Cost per Mile of New Starts Projects with Subway Segments

*http://www.fta.dot.gov/publications/reports/reports_to_congress/planning_environment_12279.html

Revenue Bonds

• The contingency funding plan approved by the SFMTA Board and the Board of Supervisors is just that: a contingency plan.

• Revenue bonds would be issued only in the following scenario:
  • The $61 million in state High Speed Rail Connectivity funds are delayed or the project receives less of these funds than expected.
  • The contingency funds budgeted for the project to cover unexpected costs or schedule delays are used. In total, $200 million is budgeted to cover contingencies.
  • The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which is expected to provide nearly $1 billion in funding to the Central Subway Project through its New Starts program, requested this additional assurance as part of its stringent review process.

We encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have about the Central Subway Project. You can reach us at central.subway@sfmta.com or by phone at 415-701-4371.

For timely updates on construction and project progress, you can find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/centralsubway) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/central_subway).

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed five resolutions to advance the Central Subway Project.

Today the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors unanimously passed several resolutions to move the Central Subway Project forward.

Both boards passed resolutions approving a contingency funding plan that would allow the Central Subway to advance on schedule even if state bond funds associated with the California high-speed rail project are delayed. In the event of a delay in these state funds, the SFMTA could issue local revenue bonds.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which is expected to provide nearly $1 billion in funding to the Central Subway Project through its New Starts program, requested this additional assurance as part of its stringent review process. A delay in bond issuance on the state level could impact Central Subway Project financing, and the FTA requires assurance that a contingent funding plan is in place.

At both board meetings, local business leaders, community members and transit advocates testified in support of the project and the bond assurance measure, saying the Central Subway will create jobs, connect communities and improve public transportation for San Franciscans. Speaking in favor of the project were representatives of the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, the Union Square Business Improvement District, the San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association (SPUR), Renew SF, the Chinatown Transportation Research and Improvement Project and several local unions, as well as prominent local leaders and members of the Central Subway Community Advisory Group.

Former San Francsico supervisor Michael Yaki spoke in support of the bond assurance resolution before the Board of Supervisors.

The Board of Supervisors also passed four resolutions approving the acquisition of temporary construction licenses. The licenses will allow work related to the Central Subway tunnel to commence around Union Square. Work to prepare the project alignment for tunneling is on track to begin this summer in this area.

More information about today’s board actions is available in this press release from the SFMTA.

Last week the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) released its proposed two-year budget, outlining the Agency’s vision for improving and maintaining San Francisco’s rail and bus transit systems, bike network, walkways, streets, public parking facilities and more.

The Central Subway is a key component of this vision. The Agency’s two-year capital budget includes $447 million for the Central Subway – more than a quarter of the $1.6 billion allocated to extend Muni’s T Third Line through SoMa, downtown, Union Square and Chinatown.

Over the next two years, funds from the following previously committed federal, state and local sources will finance Central Subway construction:

• The Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) New Starts program
• State Proposition 1B Transportation Bonds
• Local Proposition K Transportation Sales Tax Funds

These funds will allow construction to begin in the next year on major components of the project, including:

• The subway tunnel. The tunnel boring machines have been ordered and are expected to arrive in San Francisco in early 2013. Tunneling will begin soon afterward. Currently, crews are relocating and demolishing utility lines at the site where the tunneling machines will enter the ground.
• Three subway stations. Contracts for the three subway stations – Chinatown Station, Union Square/Market Street Station and Yerba Buena/Moscone Station – are on track to be awarded by the end of 2012. Construction is expected to commence soon afterward.
• Light-rail tracks, operating systems and a surface-level station. The contract to build the new subway’s tracks and operating systems, as well as a surface-level station at 4^th and Brannan streets, is planned to be advertised for bid in summer 2012.

The SFMTA Board of Directors will consider the proposed capital and operating budgets at their meeting this afternoon.

For more information on Central Subway funding, visit the Funding/Budget page on our project website.

This week, the Central Subway Project has received more promising news from Washington, D.C.:

• President Obama’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2013 recommends investing $150 million in the Central Subway Project. The funds would come from the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) New Starts program. (See page 30 of the proposed Department of Transportation budget.)
• For the fifth consecutive year, the FTA’s Annual Report on Funding Recommendations gave the Central Subway Project a rating of medium-high. This is highest rating given this year to projects currently undergoing the New Starts review process.

This exciting news reinforced the federal government’s commitment to investing in this important improvement to San Francisco’s public transportation system.

For more on the continued federal support for the Central Subway Project, check out this press release from the Mayor’s Press Office.

• The status of our grant application with the Federal Transit Administration
• The major project milestones we expect to accomplish this year
• The dazzling public art installation planned for the Union Square/Market Street Station
• Recent progress we have made on the Chinatown Station
• The reroutes of Muni lines 30 Stockton and 45 Union/Stockton

You can also find information about our next Community Advisory Group meeting, which will be held on February 16 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church at 925 Stockton Street.