A virtually $13 billion effort to increase BART to San Jose and Santa Clara secured a commitment of billions of dollars from the federal government earlier this yr, but as the subsequent administration takes shape, it's unclear how Donald Trump's second term will pan out the funding could impact transportation megaprojects across the country.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority broke ground earlier this yr on the six-mile, four-station BART extension that can eventually run through downtown San Jose and into Santa Clara, helping create a rail ring across the Bay Area . It has been a long time within the making, and the announcement in August that VTA would receive $5.1 billion — 40% of the project's cost — marked a serious milestone in making the rail line a reality.
President Joe Biden made historic investments in infrastructure during his time in office and signed the bill into law Bipartisan infrastructure law In November 2021, it could fund repairs to one in all five miles of roads and greater than 45,000 bridges across the county. In addition, $91.2 billion was invested in repairing and modernizing public transportation.
But nobody knows what the Transportation Department will seem like when Trump takes office on Jan. 20, said Kevin DeGood, director of infrastructure policy on the Center for American Progress.
There might be massive spending cuts on the federal level as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tapped to steer the brand new Department of Government Efficiency, have vowed to “cut” entire agencies.
But the $5.1 billion VTA is predicted to receive comes from the Federal Transit Administration's Capital Investment Grants program, which DeGood said is allocated by Congress.
“CIG funding has historically been very stable,” he said. “And federal agencies have met and been able to meet the funding commitments contained in those agreements.”
Under the last Trump administration, DeGood said, the president desired to reward public-private partnerships and states and native governments that put up their very own money for transportation infrastructure — which VTA has done.
The transportation agency said in an announcement it’s “confident” the project will move forward because it “entered the technical phase of the program this summer, which determines the federal cost share.”
“Congress consistently funded the Capital Investment Grant program throughout the previous Trump administration,” VTA said. “Transportation is an area of bipartisan cooperation. There are CIG projects throughout the county in red and blue states that have been promised federal funding.”
Campbell Deputy Mayor Sergio Lopez, who serves as chairman of the VTA board, said: “The strategy has always been to aggressively stick to our schedule, both to ensure we deliver a project on time but also because of a possible change. “in administration.”
Lopez, who took over because the board this month after Cindy Chavez left for a brand new job in New Mexico, said they’ve worked hard to make sure they’ve “strong working relationships” with the FTA and Democratic and Republican staff Congressional committees have been on Capitol Hill.
“We had some really productive conversations,” Lopez said, referring to a recent trip by VTA staff to D.C. “I feel like they were impressed and had an appreciation for where we are with the project and that we are one of the projects in the United States.” I believe there may be plenty of interest within the query being asked at this scale and caused excitement.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who serves as executive vice chairman, said he was also “confident that the federal government will continue to invest in Silicon Valley and enable growth.”
“Our new president has been a builder throughout his career and understands that good infrastructure underpins economic vitality,” he said in an announcement.
While Trump has yet to announce his plans for the Transportation Department, Project 2025 — a greater than 900-page transition book from the Heritage Foundation — paints a bleak picture. Trump has distanced himself from the document, but a few of its authors are being considered for roles in his incoming administration. Many of the authors worked for Trump during his first term in office.
Diana Feargott-Roth, who wrote the section on the DOT, served as deputy assistant secretary for research and technology in Trump's first administration. In her segment, Angstgott-Roth called the Capital Investment Grants program “another example of Washington's tendency to fund public transit expansion rather than maintain or improve existing facilities.”
She said the primary Trump administration called on Congress to eliminate this system entirely, but this system “enjoys strong support on Capitol Hill.”
“At a minimum, a new Conservative government should ensure that every CIG project meets sound economic standards and a rigorous cost-benefit analysis,” Feargott-Roth wrote.
Given the uncertainty about what a second Trump presidency might entail, DeGood believes there might be some threat to transportation dollars.
“I think there is some risk with the new administration that they will try to scramble to fund transit,” he said. “And if so, it could harm the implementation of megaprojects like this railway line.”
image credit : www.mercurynews.com