What’s in a name? VTA asks residents to name its $76 million tunnel boring machine

News Snapshot:

While Mercury News readers dubbed the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s $76 million tunnel boring machine “Shai-Hulud,” after the sand worm creatures from “Dune,” the transit agency has its own idea — anointing the massive machine with a moniker after a prominent local woman. VTA, which is spearheading the more than $12 billion BART extension from the Berryessa Transit Center in north San Jose through downtown and to Santa Clara, announced its long-awaited naming contest this week. The custom-made machine has been likened to a mechanical earthworm and will dig a five-mile-long, nearly 54-foot in diameter tunnel to make way...