This in part of a series of posts on the presentation given by Lisa Hinz at the SacRT Board Meeting on 2025-07-28. The audio accompanying the presentation slides is key to understanding them, so we recommend that you also view the meeting recording on YouTube.

Slide 10 (starting 39:20) is about the Watt/I-80 Station improvements. This is a joint project with Caltrans to improve a number of aspects of the station, Watt Avenue, and freeway access. STAR supports this project, was active in community engagement to develop the station improvements, and looks forward to a better Watt/I-80 station. Watt/I-80 was without a doubt the most unpleasant and dysfunctional light rail stop on the system. However, we recognizing that light rail stations in freeway right-of-way will always have noise and pollution issues that cannot be resolved.

Lisa said “SacRT’s primary focus remains ensuring safe passenger access throughout the station and along adjacent streets” and “…to ensure rider-facing apps show the most accurate information possible…”. Two critical points were not addressed.

1. The GTFS data (General Transit Feed Specification) was not updated for months into the project. This is the data that Google Maps, Transit.app, and others use to show stop locations. Due to failure of SacRT to update the GTFS, a bus stop was shown at the closed location in the middle of construction. For months.
2. The bus stop along Watt Avenue in front of the Red Roof Inn, which SacRT directed riders to, is along a five-foot sidewalk, bounded by a chain link fence. Riders waiting here frequently filled the sidewalk for some distance, preventing other people from using the sidewalk, forcing them into the traffic lane. There is no trash can here, as the accumulated trash testifies. There is no shelter. There is no bench. The bus stop sign indicated route 26 & 84 stops there, but was never updated to indicate that it was now a temporary route 1 stop. Route 1 Greenback is SacRT’s second busiest bus route, but no effort was made to assist riders, who are primarily ARC students, with better information, or a safer place to wait for the bus. Despite SacRT directing riders to cross at Longview Drive, many continued to cross at the freeway off-ramp location, because they felt it safer to do so due to less turning traffic and clearer right-of-way.

STAR will visit the station when construction on the west side is complete and shifts to the east side, and will report.

• SacRT Governance