by Jay Barmann : sfist – excerpt
The SFMTA brass got a talking-to from the Board of Supervisors this week about their inability to complete big projects on time and on budget — and the scolding came after the revelation that the Twin Peaks Tunnel improvement project that was completed last year actually involved a shortcut that now will need to be fixed at great expense.
The shortcut involved the reuse of old ballast rock — a type of large gravel typically used beneath train tracks both to stabilize them and provide drainage — when the project had originally called for the rock to be replaced. As the Examiner reports following a Tuesday meeting of the County Transportation Authority board on which all 11 of the San Francisco supervisors sit…
Kirschbaum said the old ballast rock was now causing potential problems for the tracks, and replacing it will now cost “tens of millions of dollars.”…
But, as the Examiner reports, multiple supervisors excoriated Tumlin and the other officials present given the parade of failures with big projects in recent years — not the least of which is the long-delayed and over-budget Central Subway, and the ridiculous Van Ness BRT boondoggle.
Just last week we learned of yet another delay in the Central Subway project that pushes its public opening into 2022.
“You’re out of excuses,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, adding, “the merry go-round has got to stop.”…(more)
The only way to “stop that merry-go-round” of failed projects is to admit that the current system has failed and needs to be replaced. The voters approved splitting up one large overgrown department. Now its is time to split this one.
This articles covers three of the largest ongoing boondoggles: Van Ness BRT, Central Subway and the Twin Tunnels projects. There are a lot more. Like everything else that goes on in San Francisco, it is up to the voters to demand change. That starts with letters and phone call and public comments.
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