Dive Brief:
- For the second time since ground was broken in September 2011 at the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority is cutting back on design flourishes in a bid to keep a lid on the budget.
- What was to have been an undulating glass skin on the building was changed to aluminum in 2013 to try to keep costs at $1.9 billion, and the latest design-down steps are supposed to take $53 million out a reported $150 million budget creep.
- Another change will give the bus garage bare concrete floors, and the station's backers will be looking for donations and sponsors for a planned rooftop park.
Dive Insight:
The Transbay Transit Center will be a bus station and the northern terminus of high-speed rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The rail terminal will be underground, while the above-ground bus facility will be several stories. A spokesman for the project says the authority believes the scale-back decisions are "responsible and appropriate actions to manage and deliver the program on the $1.9 billion budget."
