BART breaks ground for Oakland Airport Connector
Written by jrood
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, BART Board President James Fang and Board Member Carole Ward Allen joined local leaders in government, transportation and building trades to celebrate the ceremonial groundbreaking on the $484 million Oakland Airport Connector project. In the short term, construction of this train-to-plane connection will mean thousands of jobs in a recovering economy. In the long term, this world-class, 100-percent electric train-to-plane connection between the Coliseum Station and the Oakland Airport will provide travelers with frequent, fast and reliable service.
"As we celebrate both the short-term and long-term
benefits of the BART Oakland Airport Connector, its job creation component
stands out as an important means of growth and opportunity for many of our
local community members still struggling with hardship," Congresswoman
Barbara Lee said.
"Today is a historic
day for the Bay Area," BART Board President James Fang said. "Now both
major airports in the BART counties have train-to-plane connections. Our
partner agencies and federal, state and local elected leaders helped us to
overcome the funding challenges we faced. I especially want to thank my fellow
BART Directors for having the courage to see this project through. Now let’s
get the dirt flying, the people riding and the citizens of Oakland and the Bay
Area working!"
The project is expected to
create between 2,500 and 5,000 direct and indirect jobs during the three-and-a-half-year
construction phase, which could begin as early 2011.
Once built, the connector
will replace the AirBART buses that often are bogged down by Hegenberger Road
traffic, Coliseum sporting events, freight trains and accidents, all of which
create great angst for anxious air travelers rushing to make their flights. By
contrast, the connector will be a far more relaxing ride. The driverless, automated trains will
offer swift, reliable world-class service because they will be all electric and
run on a fixed, elevated guideway above the congestion. The trains will arrive at the Coliseum
BART Station every 4.5 minutes and will quickly transport air travelers to the
airport in eight minutes and 12 seconds with an on-time performance exceeding
99 percent.
