South Bay BART Extension Gets $5.1 Billion in Federal Funding

The grant brings the project closer to reality, but delays and cost overruns are putting a completion date more than a decade away.

1 minute read

August 5, 2024, 12:00 PM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Front entrance of Berryessa BART station in North San Jose, California.

The Berryessa Station in North San Jose is currently the terminus of a Bay Area Rapid Transit line. | Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will contribute over $5 billion to a project that will bring a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) line to Santa Clara, California, reports Joseph Geha for KQED. 

Officials from the Silicon Valley city celebrated the announcement, which will contribute significantly to the estimated $12.7 billion cost of the project. “VTA’s origins estimate, in 2014, pegged the cost at $4.7 billion and aimed for a completion date in 2026. As recently as spring 2022, VTA still touted a $6.9 billion estimate before facing multiple schedule delays and ballooning cost increases to the current figure.”

The project has been in the works for close to three decades and is scheduled for completion in 2037. Much of the track will run underground. “As currently planned, the project will extend BART from its current end of the line at Berryessa Station in North San José and will run west to create four new stations: 28th Street/Little Portugal near East San José, Downtown San José, Diridon Station and Santa Clara.”

Friday, August 2, 2024 in KQED

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