four views of proposed Los Banos Station site

Four views of the proposed site of the "Los Banos" station. This site is 8 miles from Los Banos.

 

Sprawl

 

  The alignment of the first phase of the state's high speed railway is crucial to future development patterns in the state.

The "greenfield" site shown above for the proposed "Los Banos" station will be the only stop on the high speed line between the Bay Area and Fresno if the Pacheco alignment is chosen. If the Altamont Alignment was chosen, the Central Valley communities of Tracy, Modesto, and Merced would all get stations along the initial phase of the railway. Those stations would all be in established communites, not some place 8 miles out of town.

The coming decades will determine the future health of Califonia's southern Central Valley, the San Joaquin Valley. Can the state support a progressive solution to shaping growth in the Valley, ignore the needs of the Valley, or will the Valley choose to hide from the solution?

There are two main components to the state's high speed rail plan:
  • Provide a quicker, safer, and more comfortable means of travel between the Bay Area and Southern California
  • Integrate the communities of the Central Valley with the Bay Area and Southern California
How the initial line runs will determine how successful the project is. The Central Valley is growing around a weak transportation infrastructure. Widening existing freeways doesn't alleviate the dangerous fogs that blanket the valley. Air travel is limited and very expensive, at best. Without links to the rest of the state, and to affordable air links to the rest of the nation, the Valley will continue to grow, but as a low-quality, low-cost sprawl, not as desirable communities. That limits the opportunities to people living in the Valley's towns today, and to their children forever.



Under construction.....

 

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