Our View: Don’t rule out rail connection to Bay Area

Maybe we’re so deep in the proverbial pothole that we can’t see beyond its edge.

Representatives of Stanislaus County and its nine cities will meet tonight with the public to discuss a third attempt to pass a dedicated transportation sales tax. Polling says people will support a higher tax to fix potholes and maybe even build a few regional projects, but far fewer see the benefits of connecting to the Bay Area via passenger rail.

We hope our leaders have more vision than those who were polled.

We understand that potholes must be fixed; we recognize the need for more bridges and better roads between our communities. But rejecting a direct connection to the Bay Area is shortsighted. Worse, it will allow other counties to, once again, leave us behind. We think a convincing argument can be made to extend the Altamont Corridor Express to Stanislaus County, assuming a transportation tax proposal reaches voters in 2016.

Like it or not, our region’s future is tied to the Bay Area. This isn’t about low-cost housing or landfills. We’re talking about linking our future to that of the Bay Area’s economic engines.

San Joaquin, Sacramento and the nine Bay Area counties recognize they’re part of a “mega-region,” and they’re starting to plan together. Our Bay Area connections and proximity are similar to San Joaquin’s, so we also should be part of that process. Or would we prefer to be an afterthought?

It’s not only about how we think of ourselves; it’s also about how people in the Bay Area think of us. We’ll either be part of the region, or apart from it.

“We are all in some way, shape or form part of the economic sphere of the greater Bay Area,” said Andrew Chesley, executive director of San Joaquin County Council of Governments. “Stanislaus fits right into that niche as well.”

San Joaquin residents approved a dedicated sales tax 25 years ago and have used it to improve Interstate 205 and help create the ACE train. In 1990, not everyone recognized the benefits of having a rail connection, said Chesley, “but today, if you talk about the three or four positives out of the sales tax program, ACE service would be one of them.”

Being able to step onto a train in downtown Modesto or Turlock, then step off in Santa Clara in two hours creates a significant psychological bond, and it runs both ways.

“When we first passed our sales tax, the folks over in Silicon Valley said this is what we need from the Valley – this kind of connection. It was symbolic,” Chesley said. “After a few years, it’s a big attraction that we have a connection to the innovation center of the country.”

Modesto and Turlock need such a connection, especially for the sake of their downtowns.

Today, commuters must allow three hours to drive to the Bay Area, and even then sometimes they arrive late. A rail connection is less polluting, safer and more reliable, arriving on time 95 percent of the time. Cost is comparable.

It won’t be cheap. While there’s likely room for negotiations on structuring what ACE needs from Stanislaus County, it will require roughly 12 percent of the entire sales tax increase. In San Joaquin, ACE gets roughly 11 percent of the total dedicated sales tax.

While fixing our roads is important, finding better ways to connect in a future of driverless cars and smart roads is crucial. It’s hard to see such connections if all we’re looking at is potholes.

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Our View: Don’t rule out rail connection to Bay Area."