State high-speed rail authority approves environmental impact documents for Merced-to-San Jose section

The state may soon break ground on the California high-speed rail system’s first Bay Area segment after the High-Speed Rail Authority Board of Directors certified the final environmental documents for the rail system’s Merced-to-San Jose section.

The board unanimously voted April 28 to certify the environmental impact report for the roughly 90-mile stretch, which is the high-speed rail project’s first environmentally cleared section in Northern California in addition to the Bay Area.