Train set to pass through Pacheco Pass on route from SF to
LA
Imagine a road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under
three hours with no congested freeways or highways. Since 1996, the
California High-Speed Rail Authority has been planning a bullet
train that would connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, according to
their Web site.
Train set to pass through Pacheco Pass on route from SF to LA
Imagine a road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours with no congested freeways or highways. Since 1996, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has been planning a bullet train that would connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, according to their Web site.
The 700-plus mile trip would take just over two and a half hours, according to the Web site.
On Dec. 19, the Authority approved a route for the train through Pacheco Pass in Santa Clara County. To serve southern Santa Clara County, the preferred station would be in Gilroy, according to documents from the Authority.
But some neighbors are less than enthusiastic at the prospect of a high–speed train.
Andria Coffey owns a ranch on Pacheco Pass Hwy. She has cows and horses.
“It’s going to go right over my property,” Coffey said. “And it’s probably going to freak my horses out.”
Coffey is particularly concerned that the train would interfere with her breeding operation.
“I already know that my horses aren’t going to like it,” she said. “I will probably have to relocate or something.”
Staff for the Authority analyzed the impact of Altamont Pass versus Pacheco Pass, according to documents from the Authority. Using Pacheco Pass will minimize impacts on the environment, including wetlands and waterbodies, according to documents from the Authority.
“It best serves the connection between northern and southern California with the greatest potential frequency and capacity,” according to the documents.
Mary Zanger has been living in a house on Pacheco Pass Hwy. for 54 years. She said she needs more information about the bullet train before she makes a decision about it.
She routinely receives updates from officials about the Hwy. 152 expansion, but she has not received any information about the bullet train, she said.
“I will have an opinion, probably,” Zanger said. “But there’s really been no communication on Pacheco Pass, and this is where we live.”
Everything she knows about the bullet train comes from the newspaper, she said.
“I do believe in preserving the agriculture and the environment,” she said. “And it looks pretty dire about global warming.”
The train would have a positive impact on the environment if it saves pollution from commuters, she said.
“I would want it to serve commuters too,” she said.
Bob Power is the executive director of the Santa Clara Audubon Society.
Due to global warming, we have to figure out how to move people and decrease our carbon emissions, he said, “but we have to do it in an intelligent way.”
There are important wildlife and agricultural areas in between San Jose and Santa Clara County, Power said.
Coyote Valley is between San Jose and Morgan Hill.
“It is kind of the last holdout of agricultural in the area,” Power said.
Development is already planned in the Coyote Valley, according to a Web site from the City of San Jose for the Coyote Valley specific plan.
Any development will take the form of a community, with jobs, housing, schools, parks, infrastructure and public transit, according to the Web site.
The train would also have an impact on the Merced and San Luis Wildlife Refuge Complex, he said.
“It is an extremely important mosaic or wetland and grassland,” he said. “Anytime you disturb that kind of habitat, people are concerned how you’re going to make it work and make it make sense.”
As the train heads through Pacheco Pass, it would pass through an extremely important watershed, Power said.
“The big question for us is why you wouldn’t use an existing set of arteries rather than cut a new swath through the mountain,” he said.
The next steps for the bullet train include finalizing the environmental review process, a financial plan and preliminary engineering and design, according to a Web site for the Authority.
