Imagine yourself on Santa Clara Street near Market Street. During Phase II Project construction, the scene will look like today, unless you are outside one of our station or mid-tunnel facility sites. At those sites, construction will be limited within a fenced-in, well-lit construction staging area off-street. It will look like a low-rise typical building development as seen all around San José and Santa Clara.
VTA is able to limit construction impacts through innovative tunneling technology – a single-bore tunnel. Construction of a single-bore tunnel uses a tunnel boring machine, which will remove soil through the tunnel itself, keeping the street above intact. For project structures (stations and mid-tunnel facilities), construction will largely occur off-street, like buildings with underground parking. Intermittent driveway, access changes and lane closures will occur through construction. Detours will be provided for all transportation modes.