Traffic Congestion Relief for Silicon Valley

Restoring the Quality of Life in Silicon Valley
Relieving traffic congestion without government subsidies

	How You Can Help
	How You Can Help

There is Strength in Numbers

-	Become a member of SVRAIL and share your ideas in the discussion forum (see below).
-	Read the Oped article for an overview of the ideas presented here.
-	Read the white paper Planning for the Future in Silicon Valley for details on the ideas presented here.
-	Talk to your friends and colleagues about SVRAIL and ask them to join the forum.

Download the white paper in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) suitable for printing.

When the only tool in the box is a hammer, all problems tend to look like nails. Silicon Valley has been trying for years to relieve traffic congestion with government agencies spending public tax dollars on one failed boondoggle after another. It is time for a new tool.

Conventional thinking about traffic relief yields government based solutions that are woefully underfunded, prone to political power struggles, and doomed to failure. Silicon Valley did not earn its reputation as the world leader in business and technology innovation through conventional thinking.

A new tool to fix traffic congestion Silicon Valley has traffic congestion because commuters have no convenient option other than driving to and from work. As long as people work in places that are only accessible by car, Silicon Valley will continue to be plagued by horrendous traffic congestion.

Bringing traffic relief to Silicon Valley means making commuting by rail as easy as commuting by automobile without making driving any less convenient than it is now. This requires more than just a BART line with trains. It also requires a new kind of development around transit stations.

The Industrial Campus The Industrial Campus allows 65% more office space on 35% of the land already in use. Increasing the efficiency of the existing industrial land by a factor of 5 allows this land to generate significantly higher revenue. Some of this revenue can be used to build operate and maintain a commuter rail system linking the industrial campuses while increasing the income of the current land owners.

Financing Financing is accomplished entirely within the private sector through a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). The REIT purchases or leases existing industrial land, replaces the existing buildings and parking lots with Industrial Campuses linked together with rail lines, and leases the office space to generate revenue. Operating as a for profit business the REIT will generate enough revenue to pay for:

Loans used to fund the development

Building operation and maintenance

Operation and maintenance of the rail lines and stations

Industrial Campus Facts

-	33,000 jobs each within a 5-minute walk of the transit station
-	Beautifully landscaped tree lined pedestrian walkways completely isolated from roadways making it impossible for pedestrians to ever disrupt automobile traffic.
-	Convenient parking for cars
-	Easy access for large trucks and delivery vans
-	Huge 8 acre park where employees can relax and unwind from the stress of the high tech office
-	No tall buildings (a mix of 4, 6, and 8 stories) creating an open spacious campus-like atmosphere to encourage the innovative Silicon Valley culture.