[ad_1]
SAN FRANCISCO – It has been touted as the Central Grand Terminal of the West. From now on, the Salesforce Transit Center becomes a major embarrassment for the political leaders of this city.
This $ 2.3 billion, seven-year-old nerve center in the heart of the booming South of Market district of this growing city opened on August 11th.
Two steel beams on the third floor of the building, which support a public garden on the roof, have cracks, officials said this week, one discovered on Tuesday, causing the closure of the building, the second during a closer inspection. thrust. Now the building should remain closed at least until the end of next week, as experts determine the scale and cause of the problems.
San Francisco Mayor, London Breed, called for a "thorough and transparent investigation to determine the causes, severity and impacts" of cracked beams.
"Someone must be held responsible once the cause is determined," she added.
For nearly three decades of planning, the Salesforce Transit Center has been promoted as a state-of-the-art transportation hub. The center was created to make public transit a more attractive option for motorists who clutter the highways and streets of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Unlike New York City, which has Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, which connects an extensive metro system with several commuter rail lines, San Francisco Bay has a variety of overcapacity transportation systems. .
When Salesforce Transit Center first opened, it was used primarily as a bus station, although it may be the most expensive and architecturally expensive bus station in the country. The center is home to shops and restaurants, a public art program and a 5-acre rooftop park open to the public.
During a second phase of unplanned construction, the Salesforce Transit Center was to become a key milestone of the Caltrain suburban line, which connects San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Currently, it drops travelers to more than one kilometer from the city center.
Later, it is supposed to be the hub of the high-speed train linking San Francisco to Los Angeles. This project started construction in 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2033.
"The basic concept is valid, you can not expect people to use a fragmented public transit system," said Gerald Cauthen, a retired engineer and public transportation advocate.
Tom Radulovich, executive director of Livable City, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving San Francisco for residents, and former board member of Bay Area Rapid Transit, said the setback this week could hurt ambitions of the project.
"What's wrong … will be fixed, but the question is how long will it take, how much will it cost, and can these costs be recovered from the people who made the mistakes? "If that's not the case, the funding we're counting on for the next steps could partly deprive us of some to fix what's wrong with the terminal."
The center is named after the local software company
Salesforce.com
Inc.
who bought the naming rights from the terminal last year.
The area around the transit center, a booming area known as SoMa, has had other growth problems. It is next to a luxury condominium tower that opened in 2009, the highest residential structure in the city.
The developers of the tower have blamed their sinking for the development of the transit center. Officials say the cracks in the steel beams of the transit center are not tied to the tower.
Nearby Fremont Street was also closed following the discovery of the cracks. The traffic stop disrupted traffic in a very busy part of the city, just as Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference was taking place. This annual gathering attracts around 170,000 visitors to the city.
The closure of the structure is also taking place as municipal officials promote an Urban Transport Week throughout the city, in which the use of public transport has been encouraged.
Write to Alejandro Lazo at [email protected]
Source link
