Building a few miles of California railway currently projected to cost more than NASA Mars mission

A project to extend a California railway by six miles may end up costing more than a National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) mission to Mars.

California’s plans to extend the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) rail system to San Jose and Santa Clara, which would require adding six miles of new track, have seen projected costs balloon from about $4.4 billion to $12.75 billion, according to the San Jose Spotlight. By comparison, NASA’s planned Mars Sample Return mission is currently estimated to cost between $8 billion and $11 billion, according to ABC News.

The BART extension project was initially expected to be ready for operation by 2026, but that timeline has been pushed back by a decade, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Inflation, as well as growing labor and construction costs, are among the leading factors driving the budget overruns.

California’s High-Speed Rail Isn’t Built, But It Is Putting Money In Unions’ Coffers https://t.co/i0JToMFKUl

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 17, 2024

Meanwhile, NASA’s $8 to $11 billion Mars Sample Return mission will send robots into outer space to collect samples of the planet’s soil, geology, and atmosphere and bring them back to Earth for analysis, according to NASA. That initiative has been delayed beyond the initial target date of 2027 or 2028, and 2033 is now considered more realistic, according to ABC News.

Other forms of public transportation already connect San Jose and Santa Clara to San Francisco, according to The Wall Street Journal. Taxpayers have approved three tax measures to cover some of the costs of the project already, according to the Chronicle.

The BART extension project is not the only rail project in California that has struggled to stay on schedule and within budget. The state has been working on a massive high-speed rail project to connect Southern California and the Bay Area, but that project has seen its budget more than triple while limited progress has been made on actually laying tracks since voters first approved a bond to finance the project in 2008, according to ConstructionDive.

The bond financing that voters initially permitted in 2008 was worth $33 billion, but the project’s costs have since swelled to $128 billion, according to ConstructionDive. Among other factors, difficulty navigating complex regulations, differences in authority between local and state governments, and a lack of human capital have all contributed to the bullet train’s difficulties.

With the help of the Biden administration, California is also involved in plans to build a multi-billion dollar high-speed rail line that connects the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas, Nevada. That particular line will only go into Rancho Cucamonga, a smaller California city located about an hour east of Los Angeles by car.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the office of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded immediately to requests for comment.

All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline, and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!