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Public and council debate high‑speed rail station location; some favor Campus Parkway option, others caution about regional trade‑offs

Merced City Council (town hall) · January 15, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Residents and council members discussed a possible shift of the proposed high‑speed rail station toward Highway 99/Campus Parkway, with supporters citing lower acquisition costs and better multimodal connections and critics warning about project cost and broader program risks.

Dan Holmes, who said he is a retired transportation engineer, urged the city to consider a southeast Merced station near Highway 99 and Campus Parkway rather than a downtown siting, saying the Campus Parkway location would be easier to acquire and better connected to future bus or light‑rail links. “Had you moved forward with that suggestion 15 years ago, we could have done some planning rather than reacting,” Holmes said.

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