The Silicon Valley BART extension is a set of three phases of expansion of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) from its current terminus in Fremont to Santa Clara County. The extensions will be to the Warm Springs District, Berryessa District, and lastly to Downtown San Jose and/or Santa Clara.[1][2][3]
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Santa Clara County was originally going to be part of the BART system but local leaders voted it down. There would have been minor service at Palo Alto right over the border from San Mateo County. However, San Mateo County also opted out, leaving Fremont the closest end of line.
In the late 1990s planners and community leaders began to plan out a BART extension to San Jose to ameliorate traffic and connect the city to the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area and close the gap in rail service around the bay.
In 2000 Santa Clara County voters approved a 30-year-long half cent sales tax increase to fund BART.[1] The tax did not come into effect until 2006. It became clear that federal funding would not be approved until the county's transit body, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), could prove that it could operate the BART extension with its own funds in a way that would not be detrimental to its existing transit and transportation infrastructure.[1] This after the project was repeatedly not given positive recommendation in congress for this very reason.[1] In 2008, to mitigate that fact, the voters were again asked to raise sales tax this time by 1/8th of one percent to come into effect when and if federal funding of the project was given the green light.[1][3]
In 2009 it was made evident that due to worsening economic factors that over its 30-year lifespan the 2000 sales tax would only bring in 7 billion dollars and not the anticipated 11 billion and plans for the full extension and amount of stations needed to be scaled back.[1][3] The project was cut into phases with service to northern San Jose at Berryessa originally planned for 2018 and to downtown San Jose by 2025 which may or may not include Santa Clara.[1][3]
In 2009, the first phase of expansion in Warm Springs began construction with the awarding of a $140 million contract to tunnel underneath Fremont's Central Park. The additional $299 million to complete the expansion was allocated and contracted out in 2011. Construction began officially in 2010, and the 5.4 mile extension to Warm Springs is expected to complete in 2015. [4]
In November 2011, VTA awarded a $772 million contract to begin building the first phase of extension to Skanska-Shimmick-Herzog, which is also overseeing the Warm Springs Extension. The winning bid was awarded $77 million under initial cost estimates, and is expected to open up in late 2016, 18 months earlier than previously expected.[5] Construction could begin in early 2012 if state and federal funds are allocated.
Construction on the Warm Springs extension began in 2010. It will extend the existing track from Fremont by 5.4 miles, and is the first part of BART's Silicon Valley extension. The Warm Springs line will feature a subway underneath Fremont's Central Park, and is expected to open for passenger service by 2015.
This extension will bring BART south from Warm Springs to Berryessa station with a Milpitas station which will be located adjacent too and connected by bridge to the Montague light rail station near the Great Mall of the Bay Area and the Great Mall/Main Transit Center. The setup for a station in downtown Milpitas to be called Calaveras station will be set up for a future infill station to be funded by the city.[1]
In 2009 VTA proposed that the extension need be extended as far as they could afford and only as far as Berryessa until further funding was made available.[1] In 2009 the MTC also changed its rules allowing for toll monies from bridges and HOT lanes to be used for transit projects, opening up more funding for BART expansion and other projects such as VTA light rail extensions and bus or ferry operations as well.[1] This leg of the extension has been fully funded and is currently under pre-construction with the old Union Pacific railroad tracks being moved out of the way to make room for the construction of this leg. In 2011, VTA awarded a $772 million initial contract to begin construction. If federal and state funding fall into place, construction could begin in 2012, with passenger service as early as late 2016.[6] [1]
A local industrial park sued on environmental grounds because the extension may reduce its vehicular access and lower their earnings.[7] This lawsuit brings many parallels to the owner of Artichoke Joe's unsuccessful plan to stonewall the SFO BART extension in the late 1990s and early 2000s.[7][8][9]
Lastly, a final leg will be built to the urban core of San Jose with Alum Rock station on the city's "east side" then tunneling under Santa Clara street to a Downtown San Jose station.[1] This station was originally going to be separate Civic Plaza/SJSU and Plaza de César Chávez stations but were consolidated to save money.[1] After that the rail lines will terminate at either the Diridon/Arena station co-located at the current Caltrain/ACE/Amtrak station and allow for a future extension to the Santa Clara station or go all the way to that station to be co-located with the existing Caltrain station in that city.[1]
Originally the entire extension was going to be built in one megaproject but federal funding a lower than expected sales tax revenue led to the scaling back and phasing in of the plan.[1]