2018: A year of progress and change for California’s high-speed rail project

At the Cedar Viaduct, construction crews continue extending the structure across State Route 99 south of Fresno. Columns for several support piers are rising on both sides of the highway. The viaduct will eventually be connected to the smaller Muscat Viaduct a little further to the south. One of the largest structures on Construction Package 1, the Cedar Viaduct will be about three-quarters of a mile long when complete.

California has long set the pace for American rail

Its innovative spirit and willingness to invest in tomorrow is part of what makes California the economic powerhouse that it is. With a population of 40 million and a $2.5 trillion economy – the world’s fifth largest – California is taking bold steps today toward implementing the country’s first true high-speed rail system of tomorrow.

When Phase 1 of the California high-speed rail system opens, electric high-speed rail passenger trains will transport passengers from San Francisco through the Central Valley to Los Angeles and Anaheim in less than three hours at speeds capable of exceeding 200mph.

Compared to a car trip of at least six and a half hours in the best traffic, this new travel alternative will transform the way Californians move, live and work. Eventually it will stretch 800 miles and link to other highly populated mega-regions, extending as far north as Sacramento, the state’s capital, and farther south to San Diego.

The current construction was made possible thanks in part to a $2.55 billion federal economic stimulus grant, awarded to the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) in 2010 at the height of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Combined with other state and federal funds, the investment (including funds for local and regional rail lines) marked the beginning of the work to build the system approved by California voters in 2008.

The state has met the deadline to fully invest all the federal grant funds by 30 September 2017. It’s also drawn in hundreds of private sector firms (including small, disadvantaged and veteran-owned businesses) to begin construction in California’s Central Valley. As one of the largest public infrastructure projects in the country, the project has created thousands of good paying jobs and infused the state’s economy with billions of dollars.

2018: A year of progress and change for high-speed rail in California

In January, California Governor Edmond G. Brown Jr. renewed his pledge of support for the high-speed rail programme by prominently boosting the high-speed rail at his 16th and final State of the State Address in front of a joint session of lawmakers. He said: “I make no bones about it. I like trains and I like high-speed trains even better,”

At the time, Edmond highlighted the early economic benefits of construction, making the point that a high-speed rail system, while expensive to build, is still cheaper, more sustainable and more convenient than the price of expanding airports and building freeways. “It will be fast, quiet and powered by renewable electricity and last for a hundred years.”

Workers continue excavating the crossing under State Route 180 (SR 180) outside of downtown Fresno. As they dig down five feet, they add to the retaining wall with a rebar mesh and sprayed concrete, known as shotcrete. There’s about 18 feet left to excavate before crews will construct a concrete box that will carry the trains under SR 180, a rail spur and the Dry Creek Canal. At the trench, to the north of the SR 180, additional precast struts have been set, approximately 800 feet have been partially excavated. Crews are installing temporary supports to excavate the remainder in this area of the trench. Ultimately, the trench will extend approximately one mile in length.

As the Authority transitioned from a planning to a project-delivery organisation, new leadership and organisational improvements have further been put into place. In February, Brian P. Kelly, widely considered the state’s top transportation policy executive, was selected as the Authority’s Chief Executive Officer. Prior to taking the helm, Brian served as Gov. Brown’s transportation czar, leading the California State Transportation Agency. Brian has in turn assembled a strong executive team, including Joseph Hedges, who has come aboard as Chief Operating Officer and Pamela Mizukami as the Chief Deputy Director.

A business plan for Californian high-speed rail

In May, the Authority Board of Directors adopted the 2018 Business Plan which outlined the system’s path forward, including steps to initiate high-speed rail service as soon as possible. By making concurrent investments to be linked over time, the Authority will work to construct additional segments as funding becomes available.

The 2018 Business Plan lays out an implementation strategy focused on meeting federal funding commitments by completing the 119-mile-long segment that’s under construction and completing the environmental review for all project segments statewide by 2022. While environmental work related to the Fresno to Bakersfield project section advanced in November of 2018, final environmental clearance for another major project section, the Central Valley Wye – a junction between the Central Valley and trains heading west to the San Francisco Bay Area, north to Merced and south to Fresno – is anticipated in the spring of 2019.

At the northern end of the San Joaquin River Viaduct, girders have been set and a cast-in-place concrete arch is underway for the section that crosses over the river. Concrete is being poured for the deck segments on the north side of the river, while further south, crews continue constructing barrier and intrusion protection walls along the sides of the pergola section of the viaduct. The completed viaduct, nearly a mile in length, will be one of the largest structures on this first phase of the high-speed rail project.

The 2018 Business Plans calls for extending the Silicon Valley to the Central Valley Line, which runs from San Francisco to Bakersfield and would generate high ridership and revenue. The impact of this line will be inestimable in terms of the economic impacts within each region. The line will enable people to connect and work at high-tech jobs in Silicon Valley and San Francisco while having greater access to more affordable housing options in Central Valley cities such as Gilroy and Fresno, which are already working on plans to create vibrant, livable districts around high-speed rail stations. These new connections will foster economic revitalisation, affordable housing and workforce development goals.

Meanwhile, the Authority will look toward introducing high-speed rail in Southern California and investing remaining ‘bookend funds’ in projects along that corridor. These projects will also improve freight, local and regional passenger rail service, transit connections and safety in the region.

Current progress on California’s high speed rail project

Crews are making steady progress in the Central Valley on what will be the future high-speed rail system’s midway point. More than two dozen active construction sites span 119 miles, as three design-build construction teams work on contracts valued at nearly $4 billion.

The first significant construction contract executed on the high-speed rail programme stretches 32 miles in the heart of the Central Valley and features 12 grade separations, two viaducts, one tunnel and a major river crossing. Major structures have already been completed, including the Tuolumne Street Bridge, which finished and opened to traffic in August of 2017. The bridge supports the revitalisation of Fresno (California’s fifth most populous city) by carrying two-way traffic in and out of the downtown, over future high-speed rail and freight tracks. Work is also complete on the Fresno River Viaduct, a 1,600ft-long bridge-like structure that will carry high-speed trains over the river and a two-lane highway.

Construction is also progressing at the San Joaquin River Viaduct and Pergola, a 4,740ft-long structure that spans a river and freight rail tracks parallel to a major multi-lane highway. This structure features curved arches representing the northern gateway into the city and a pergola structure to cross over the top of the freight rail tracks.

Crews have poured the concrete deck and are working on the back walls and traffic barrier for the bridge over the high-speed rail line at the Avenue 12 grade separation. The realignment of the busy roadway with two separate bridges will take traffic over the high-speed rail line and the BNSF freight tracks a little further east. To the east, rebar and carpenter crews continue to work on the cast in place wall footings adjacent to the structure which will cross over the BNSF freight rail tracks.

The second significant construction contract to be executed extends approximately 65 miles south of the terminus of the first construction package in Fresno and features approximately 36 grade separations, including viaducts, underpasses and overpasses. Construction activities have begun as crews have carried out geotechnical and demolition projects. They’ve also moved mountains of dirt while building embankments and conducting utility relocations.

A pre-cast facility built by the contract’s design-builder opened nearby over the summer. The facility is unique as it manufactures girders and pre-cast slabs, allowing the builder to make as many as eight girders at a time in order to expedite the bridge construction process. The facility will ultimately manufacture around 1,300 different kinds of beams and almost half a million pre-cast slabs.

The third and final construction contract extends 22 miles to the south. Major activities underway include utility relocation, clearing and grubbing, and geotechnical analysis as crews are testing the soil conditions for future construction of a viaduct that will carry high-speed trains over the highway.

High-speed rail construction creates jobs in California

Overall, this construction progress demonstrates how high-speed rail is making good on a promise to create jobs. In June, the Authority celebrated another major milestone when the project created its 2,000th construction job. Currently, there are more than 2,400 skilled labourers working on the project, as the Authority continues to move forward on environmental review and construction, working closely with its partners, local communities, stakeholders and policymakers at the local, state and federal levels.

With active construction sites, millions invested in small businesses and a business plan to pull it all together, the state’s high-speed rail programme is far from an idea; it’s a reality that in 2019 will push this transformative project farther ahead, connecting and transforming California.