BART, project partners break ground on East Contra Costa County extension

Written by jrood

BART customers will soon have rail service to East Contra Costa County thanks to the eBART extension project, which officially broke ground in a ceremony October 29. eBART, shorthand for east Contra Costa BART extension, is a 10-mile extension from Pittsburg/Bay Point Station to the City of Antioch.

"Once again, BART is going
to create jobs, not just transport people to their jobs," BART Board President
James Fang said. "eBART will provide more than 600 jobs during construction and
then, once it’s in operation, eBART will provide about 40 to 80 permanent jobs.

eBART is being built in
coordination with the Highway 4 widening project. It’s expected to carry as many
people as an additional lane of Highway 4 when it begins service, which is
expected to be in 2015.

"We think eBART is going to
make a significant contribution to relieving the freeway congestion in East
County," said BART Board Member Joel Keller. Keller represents BART District 2,
which includes Pittsburg and Antioch. "eBART’s going to allow East County
residents to board a train at Hillcrest Avenue and be at the Pittsburg/Bay
Point Station in 10 minutes. That’s going to mean convenient and cost-effective
public transportation for East County."

Tracks will extend beyond
the Pittsburg/Bay Point Station down the median of Highway 4, through Pittsburg
and terminate east of Hillcrest Avenue in Antioch.

The $462-million eBART
extension will use Diesel Multiple Unit technology. DMU is extremely effective
for this project because it would take more than $1 billion to extend service
with traditional BART train technology.

"The $462 million eBART
project is 60-percent less expensive than conventional BART," BART Board Member
Gail Murray said. "Nothing about eBART precludes construction of
conventional BART in the future, given adequate ridership and funding."

DMU trains are
environmentally sustainable and use ultra-low sulfur fuel and meet all
applicable U.S. and California air quality standards. DMU trains are used
throughout Europe. Here in California, San Diego County also uses a DMU system,
the popular Sprinter line.

eBART is expected to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 260,000 lbs. per day and reduce the consumption of
petroleum.

The cities of Antioch and
Pittsburg have prepared Ridership Development Plans (RDPs) for their
communities in the form of Specific Plans. The RDPs are comprehensive station
area plans that analyze land use and access to the future station sites. These
plans focus on the area within the half-mile radius around the future eBART
stations.

The Metropolitan
Transportation Commission provided 60 percent of the money for the $462-million
project ($263 million from bridge tolls and $20 million from other sources).

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