Transbay Transit Center, San Francisco, US, United States of America

Transbay Transit Center is a multimodal transportation centre under construction in San Francisco in the US. The project will replace the outdated Transbay Terminal and integrate 11 transit systems to operate in the city under one roof.

The $4.2bn project, which will serve 45 million passengers annually, is being executed by Transbay Joint Power Authority (TJPA), a consortium of the Bay Area government and various transportation agencies. TJPA will be responsible for designing, building, operating and maintaining the facility.

“Ground breaking for the project took place in December 2008 and is scheduled for completion in 2017.”

Transbay Transit Center project

Transbay Transit Center is part of the Transbay Redevelopment Project, which aims to regenerate a 40-acre site surrounding the centre. It includes the construction of the centre, a 1,100ft-tall transit tower, 2,600 residential houses, three million square feet of commercial and office spaces and 100,000ft² of retail spaces.

“Ground breaking for the project took place in December 2008 and is scheduled for completion in 2017.”

The centre will provide a transportation hub for eight Bay Counties and the California State. It will integrate various transit systems including AC Transit, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, Greyhound, Muni, SamTrans, WestCAT Lynx, Amtrak and Paratransit.

The first phase of the project involves the construction of a five level transit centre of which two levels will be underground. Phase two includes the Downtown Rail Extension Project (DX), a 2.09km (1.3mile) extension of the Caltrain railway line into the underground level of the transit centre. It also includes integration of a future California High-Speed Rail line into the transit hub.

The project is expected to generate $87bn of Gross Regional Product and will encourage people to use public transport and thereby decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Design of the Transbay Transit Center

The new transit centre will be spread over five storeys and cover an area of one million square feet. The five levels of the centre are train station platform, lower concourse level, ground level, second level, bus deck level and City Park.

The train station platform level will be located underground. It will include three passenger platforms and six train tracks serving Caltrain and the future California High-Speed Rail. The lower concourse level will serve as a link between the ground level and underground level. It will be used for passenger circulation and include retail spaces.

The ground level is a concourse area and will serve as the main circulation hub for the centre. It includes the Great Hall with a main entrance from Mission Square. This level will include an information centre, escalators and automated ticketing facilities.

The second level will be located over the ground level and will be used for passenger circulation. It will include administrative offices, support services and potential retail facilities.

Located above the second level, the bus deck level will include a central island where buses will load and off-load passengers. It will be mainly used by AC Transit, MUNI, Amtrak and Greyhound.

The upper level includes the 5.4-acre city park, which will serve as a green roof for the transit centre. It will contain gardens, trees, an open-air amphitheatre, running and walking track, lily ponds and grass areas for picnics.

Various green building techniques and LEED energy efficiency techniques are included in the design of the building. Other than the park, other green features include maximum use of daylight, storm water runoff reduction and water conservation.

Transbay Transit Center construction

Transbay Transit Center is being constructed on the same site of the old Transbay Terminal, which was built in 1939. The project started with the construction of the temporary terminal building in December 2008, which was put into operation by August 2010. Demolition of the old terminal started in December 2010 and was carried out in four phases, and completed by September 2011.

Financing for Transbay Transit Center

The project is being executed using local, regional, state and federal funds. The funding details for phase one of the project include local authorities ($149m), regional ($347m), state ($457m) and federal ($637m). Phase two funding consists of local ($77m), regional ($8m), state ($185m) and federal ($377m). All funding values are escalated to the year of expenditure. Construction of the transit tower by Hines Development will provide additional funds for construction and maintenance of the centre.

Transbay Transit Center contractors

“TJPA will be responsible for designing, building, operating and maintaining the facility.”

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (PCPA) and Hines are the lead architects for the project, while URS Corporation is the programme manager. Webcor/Obayashi joint venture is the construction manager / general contractor, with Turner Construction Company providing construction management services.

Hatch Mott MacDonald is proving programme management services, design verification, budget supervising and procurement advising, with structural design services coming from Thornton Tomasetti.

ARUP is the civil and geo technical engineer for the project. AECOM company Davis Langdon is providing cost management services. Evans Brothers were the contractors for the demolition of the old terminal.

PHOTOS
Transbay Transit Center will replace old terminal.