San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center Opens This Weekend

John King provides the first look at a massive new transit station and public, rooftop park in San Francisco.

Complete and scheduled to open for bus service on August 12, the $2.16 billion Transbay Transit Center "has been the subject of grand plans and political controversies, struggles to stay on schedule and squabbles over costs," according to King. But when the fist bus bound from the East Bay fee of downtown traffic on an elevated concourse, "all of that changes."

King's assessment of the new Transbay Transit Center is as part "utilitarian bus station" and "part rooftop park." It's also the city's "freshest icon."

There's no shortage of detail and intrigue to be found at San Francisco's new icon. For instance, it will be important to note the preferred nomenclature. According to King, "the facility now officially bears the name Salesforce Transit Center, with Salesforce Park on top. That’s the trade-off for a 25-year, $110 million sponsorship deal with the tech firm, which is headquartered next door."

From design elements to programming plans to addressing concerns about security to plans to eventually bring train service to the facility (at a final cost of $4.2 billion), King covers a lot of ground with this feature-length story, complete with several high-quality video vignettes. We'll leave one final note of enticement toward the source article with this key passage:

But consider what has been accomplished. A major work of 21st century infrastructure has not only been summoned into existence, it has helped summon up a neighborhood around it. The notion of a larger public — public transit and public spaces and large-scale public investment — is being celebrated, not scorned.