Bay Area growth means new opportunities for San Joaquin Valley

A newly constructed, four-bedroom, 1,600-square-foot home in Merced is currently listed for $275,000. That same type of home in Pleasanton would currently sell for more than $1 million. Real estate prices would make one think these two markets — separated by less than 100 miles of highway — have little in common. But as part of the Northern California megaregion, their economic futures are inextricably linked. The San Joaquin Valley can, and should, be a major partner with the Bay Area in planning for future job and population growth, expanding economic opportunity and addressing housing and transportation challenges.

Merced especially is primed to play a bigger role in the megaregional economy. The newest University of California campus opened in Merced in 2005, and now enrolls more than 8,500 students in programs ranging from Earth systems science to materials science and engineering. The university recently unveiled the first phase of a new $1.3 billion public-private partnership expansion project, which added two new housing structures, dining facilities and new classrooms. These investments will help the campus reach its enrollment goal of 10,000 students by 2020.

Looking ahead, Merced will also sit at the center of the megaregional rail network. With a high-speed rail station that will connect the city with San Jose in less than one hour and the proposed extension of the Altamont Corridor Express line into the Central Valley, Merced stands to be a major beneficiary of improved connectivity. These investments should not just facilitate commutes into the core of the Bay Area, they must also act as a conduit for more jobs and more capital moving into the Central Valley. With the dual growth of the campus and the high-speed rail system, Merced has the potential to quickly expand into a 21st century example for urban growth.

As high-speed rail takes shape, UC Merced is positioned to facilitate technology transfer from its own academic research and innovations to the project, create valuable private-sector internships for students, identify student talent to meet the demands of designing, planning and administering the system, and develop partnerships with leading institutes studying transportation.

For the Northern California megaregion and the state to fully leverage the San Joaquin Valley’s UC campus and investments in rail, coordinated planning between the Bay Area and the Valley is necessary. This is especially true in the area of workforce development. Upgrades to the K-12 system, tailored workforce training programs, and college curricula that match the needs of employers will all play a role in transforming the Valley economy with more, higher-paying jobs. With partnerships that re-think economic development across the megaregion, growing Bay Area companies will no longer have to turn to Nevada, Oregon, or Texas for their new facilities. Instead, they can find a Central Valley home for their data centers, manufacturing facilities, research and development labs and logistics hubs.

Like UC Merced, high-speed rail will have transformational impact on the social, economic and environmental well-being of the San JoaquinValley. The Bay Area Council and UC Merced have already begun partnering to address some of the Valley’s most vexing economic challenges, with the hope of a creating a future with broader prosperity and economic diversity across the Northern California megaregion. Sacramento, Stockton and even Fresno are other key partners in this important work. We hope this partnership is the first of many between cross-sector leaders that will better position our growing megaregion for success in an increasingly competitive national and global economy.

This story was originally published December 9, 2018 at 5:42 AM.