Santa Maria, CA
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Ventura, CA (83.1 mi).
About Santa Maria
Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast of California, it is approximately 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Santa Barbara and 150 miles (240 km) northwest of Los Angeles. Its population was 109,707 at the 2020 census.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Mid-size terminal (range $1–2B) | $1.5B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.5× on $200M base | $300M |
| Track: Santa Maria → Ventura | 83.1 mi × $500M/mi | $41.6B |
| Annual operations (share) | Staffing, power, maintenance | $30M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $43.4B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
the downtown Santa Maria Transit Center district. Downtown Santa Maria's transit center is the Central Coast's bus hub, sitting on the 101 corridor midway between LA and the Bay Area. The downtown core has the most developable land of any city on this long leg. It captures the Santa Maria Valley's farm and energy workforce plus Vandenberg traffic.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- Guadalupe — small farm town on US-101 just south of Santa Maria.
- Orcutt — large unincorporated community on the corridor.
- Buellton — the 'Split Pea Soup' town at the 101/246 junction.
- Carpinteria — coastal small city on the approach to Ventura.