The Silicon Valley BART extension will expand service by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) into Santa Clara County, from its former terminus at the Fremont station in Alameda County. The extension has seven stations in three phases. The $790-million first phase was the Warm Springs/South Fremont station, that opened in March 2017. It broke ground in 2009, and was originally scheduled for completion in 2014.
The $2.3-billion second phase consists of the Milpitas and Berryessa stations, both expected to open in January-March 2019. The second phase broke ground in 2012, originally scheduled for completion in 2016. A partnership between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is building the second phase, while BART will operate and maintain the entire extension.
The $4.7-billion third phase remains unfunded. Targeted for completion in 2026, it would add three new subway stations west of Berryessa: Alum Rock, Downtown San Jose, and Diridon/Arena, and a new surface station in Santa Clara.
Video Silicon Valley BART extension
Funding
Santa Clara County was originally going to have been part of the BART system, but local governments did not approve. Minor service at Palo Alto right over the border from San Mateo County was also planned originally.
In 2000, Santa Clara County voters approved a 30-year half-cent sales tax increase to fund BART, which took effect in 2006. To make up for a shortfall in projected federal funding, an increase in the sales tax by 0.125 percent was proposed if additional federal funding were secured.
The economy worsened in 2009, and the 2000 sales tax was projected to generate $7 billion which was short of the originally expected $11 billion. As a consequence, the number of planned stations was reduced. In addition, the line from Berryessa to downtown San Jose was delayed until 2025. This line may or may not include Santa Clara.
Construction of the Warm Springs extension began in 2009.
VTA awarded $770 million to Skanska-Shimmick-Herzog in 2011 for the first phase of the Berryessa extension, and the federal government granted $900 million for the project in 2012. Construction began the same year. It was scheduled to open in 2016.
VTA sought funding from the federal New Starts program in 2016. A half-cent 30-year sales tax passed in the 2016 elections, to raise $6.0 to $6.5 billion with up to 25% of this (or $1.6 billion) for BART. VTA also sought $1.5 billion from New Starts, and $750 million from the California Cap and Trade program.
Maps Silicon Valley BART extension
Warm Springs Extension
The $790 million extension to Warm Springs is five miles long, the first part of BART's Silicon Valley extension. The original estimate was $890 million. The cost of the subway segment under the lake in Fremont was reduced by 45% from the original estimate of $249 million to $136 million.
The station opened on March 25, 2017. The extension broke ground in 2009, scheduled for completion in 2014. Construction of the station began in 2011, and was expected to take three and a half years. However, the opening was pushed back to fall 2015, to early 2016, to spring 2016, to summer 2016, to fall 2016, to late fall 2016, to winter 2017, and to spring 2017.
Berryessa Extension
The Milpitas and Berryessa stations are expected to open in January-March 2019. Earlier, the opening had been pushed back from 2016 to late 2017, June 2018, and fall 2018.
The line extends south from Warm Springs to Milpitas station (originally to be called "Montague Station"), connected by pedestrian bridge to the VTA's Montague light rail station near the Great Mall of the Bay Area, and then on to Berryessa station. A proposed infill station in downtown Milpitas, Calaveras station, has been deferred until the city secures funding.
In 2009, VTA proposed to extend the line as far as they could afford (Berryessa) until further funding could be obtained. In 2009, the MTC also changed its rules allowing bridge and HOT lanes tolls to be used for transit projects, such as BART expansion, VTA light rail extensions, bus or ferry operations.
A local industrial park sued in 2011, without success, on environmental grounds claiming that the extension would reduce vehicular access.
The capacity of existing rolling stock is not adequate for full service on the extension. Full service depends on the on-time receipt of 35 new train cars. Service on the Warm Springs extension has been limited to one line, instead of two, for this reason.
Downtown San Jose/Santa Clara extension
A $4.7-billion final leg is proposed to downtown San Jose, first to the proposed Alum Rock station on the city's "east side", connected by a tunnel under Santa Clara Street to a proposed Downtown San Jose Station, which would be an interchange station to VTA lines. Like the Berryessa Extension, it would be built by VTA, but operated by BART. The original proposal had separate Civic Plaza/SJSU and Plaza de César Chávez stations, but these were consolidated into a single station to cut cost. The line would continue to the San Jose Diridon station (transfer point to Amtrak, Caltrain, Altamont Corridor Express and the planned California High Speed Rail system), and the proposed BART subway station would be called "Diridon/Arena" (SAP Center). It would either terminate there, allowing for a future extension to the proposed Santa Clara Caltrain Station, or go all the way to that station in the same phase of construction (The Santa Clara Station has attracted negative reception from local residents for duplicating the CalTrain station of the same name and demand that the connection be downgraded to an airport connector circulating the airport). Project details were expected to be finalized by the fourth quarter of 2016.
Originally the entire extension from Fremont to Santa Clara was proposed as one megaproject, but lower than expected federal funding and sales tax revenue reduced the scope of the project. It was divided into phases. After funding was secured for the first phase in March 2012, VTA began looking for $2.4 billion to close the remaining funding gap for the projected $4.7 billion cost of the second phase of the proposed extension to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara. Completion is expected in 2026, pushed back from 2025.
VTA and BART disagreed on the design, a single- or dual-bore tunnel, as of 2018. A single bore 45-foot-wide (14 m) would stack the two tracks above one other. The dual bore design would separate the tunnels horizontally, each 20 feet (6.1 m) wide. BART has dual bores in other parts of its system. VTA prefers the a single-bore to reduce construction-related disruption to city streets, shorten the construction schedule, and avoid cut and cover construction in Santa Clara Street for station boxes. BART prefers dual bores, to cut construction cost, and standardize the procedure for emergency evacuations. The single-bore design is newer, less tested in the US. Local businesses, cities and VTA were lobbying for a single bore in 2018. As of early 2018, the tunnel design had not been finalized.
See also
- Bay Area Rapid Transit expansion
- List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations
References
External links
- VTA.org: BART extension webpage
- San Jose Mercury News: BART news section
- MTC.gov report on extension
Source of article : Wikipedia
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