Gilroy
– Frustrated in their efforts to get federal support for the
$4.2 billion BART to San Jose project, officials with the Santa
Clara Valley Transportation Authority are trying a new
approach.
Gilroy – Frustrated in their efforts to get federal support for the $4.2 billion BART to San Jose project, officials with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority are trying a new approach.
The Federal Transit Administration has given a thumbs down to the project, making it ineligible for federal funding. But this week, the FTA agreed to evaluate a 10-mile segment of the project that holds greater promise to meet federal cost effectiveness requirements.
“We have been on hold for several months attempting to accommodate FTA’s criteria needed to move this project forward,” said VTA Chairman Joe Pirzynski. “This creative solution goes a long way toward satisfying those requirements.”
Rather than subjecting the entire 16.3-mile proposal to FTA review, the VTA has asked for an evaluation of a 10-mile stretch from Warm Springs to Berryessa in San Jose. If the FTA concludes that the $1.8 billion phase of the project will be cost-effective and attract riders, the VTA will be eligible for up to $900 million in federal grants.
The VTA will not build BART in phases, but use local sales tax and state grant money to construct the more onerous underground portion of the project to take BART through downtown San Jose and into Santa Clara.
