San Jose waited for BART to Berryessa for 20 years, and it will take yet another 20 years to complete it through downtown.

Let’s compare to the Washington Metro, nearly identical in nature to BART. Groundbreaking happened in 1969; and opened in 1976 with the first 4 1/2 miles. By 2001, the complete 103-mile system was ready. That’s right, 25 years added nearly 100 miles of track and dozens of stations.

In the first 20 years bringing BART only as far as Berryessa, how many miles of track were laid? Fewer than 16!  How many miles will be laid in the final 20 years to get downtown? Only 5! How many stations? Only 3!

What’s the difference? Corrupt San Jose  politics. Pandering to the demands of moneyed interests, the decision was made to use a super-deep single-bore tunnel that will take twice as long as cut-and-cover methods.

Sure, cut-and-cover would be disruptive to businesses on Santa Clara St. But take a moment to drive down Santa Clara St. and count the number of active businesses. Bad City Hall policy long ago decimated this entire stretch. You could easily pay each business a half million dollars to mitigate its losses, and still come out 5 billion dollars ahead.

Cut and cover is the way. BART in 2030, not 2040!