Officials break ground on Transbay Transit Center

City and state officials were on hand this morning at First and Mission streets for the groundbreaking of the new Transbay Transit Center, a project that was 40 years in the making.

“Today, in breaking ground on the Transbay Transit Center. We are opening a new chapter in that history of progress,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi said the project would provide 48,000 jobs in just the first phase of the project that will replace the existing Transbay Terminal.

“We are coming together to create jobs and revitalize our economy, and we are laying the first building blocks of a new Grand Central Station of the West,” she said.

The five-story transit structure will include an above-grade bus level, a ground floor entrance on Mission Street, a concourse level, and two below-grade rail levels serving Caltrain and future California High-Speed Rail.

The $4.2 billion project was funded by various sources including the federal and state government.

“This is one of the most important and transformational public transportation projects in America,” said Ray LaHood, U.S. secretary of transportation.

The new Transbay Transit Center is set to open in August 2017. The temporary Transbay Terminal is located at Main and Howard streets.