BART Silicon Valley achieves environmental milestone

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) received notification that the Federal Transit Administration issued a Record of Decision for the first 10-mile phase of BART Silicon Valley. This milestone signifies that VTA satisfied the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, thereby issuing environmental impact approval for the $2.1-billion Berryessa Extension.

The ROD is issued after
extensive environmental analysis, which is documented in the Final
Environmental Impact Statement. The FEIS for the Berryessa Extension of BART
Silicon Valley assesses alternatives considered, includes the public
opportunity to comment along with public comments and responses, and provides
the basis for the decision and measures required to mitigate potentially adverse
effects.

Receipt of the ROD is
required for projects seeking federal funding. "This is a critical milestone
for BART Silicon Valley," said VTA Board Chair and San Jose City Council Member
Sam Liccardo. "It positions us for the next milestones, which are to advance in
the FTA New Starts Program, get a commitment of federal funding and begin
construction in 2012."

As the project sponsor, VTA
is applying for $900 million in FTA New Starts funding. The FTA New Starts
Program is the federal government’s primary discretionary financial resource
for supporting locally planned, constructed and operated major transit
projects. 

The ROD is critical for VTA
to achieve the next several anticipated near-term milestones for the BART
Silicon Valley Project. In December, VTA anticipates the FTA to move the
project into the third and final phase of project development in the New Starts
Program. In February 2011, the FTA and VTA will then move forward on an
agreement for a federal funding allocation culminating with a "Full Funding
Grant Agreement" (FFGA) for $900 million in 2012.

An FFGA is a multi-year
contractual agreement between the FTA and the project sponsor that formally
defines the project scope, cost and schedule, and establishes the level and
terms of federal financial assistance.

VTA plans to begin
construction immediately following the FFGA. In May, the VTA Board of Directors
awarded authority for VTA to pursue Design Build as the delivery method for the
project. This delivery method is estimated to result in an $85-million savings and
shorten construction by six months. Construction is planned for 2012-2016,
system testing 2017 and passenger service to begin in 2018.

Once constructed, the extension
will be operated by BART as part of its regional system. The 10-mile BART
Berryessa Extension includes two stations, one in Milpitas and one in the
Berryessa area of North San Jose, making a total of 47 stations in the 119-mile
regional system.

The Berryessa Extension
will serve a projected 46,000 average weekday riders by 2030. This vital link
to Santa Clara County will provide a transit solution to highly congested and
constrained I-880 and I-680 corridors. The new 10-mile extension will reduce
regional traffic congestion and improve local connectivity through new
high-frequency express/feeder bus services timed to meet BART trains to connect
downtown San Jose, major employment hubs, schools and universities, and housing
communities throughout the valley.

The BART to Silicon Valley
Project is an extension of the existing BART system to San Jose, Milpitas and
Santa Clara. This project plans to extend the current BART system 16 miles
beginning at the future BART Warm Springs Station in Fremont and proceed on the
former Union Pacific right-of-way through Milpitas to south of Mabury Road in
San Jose. The extension would then descend into a 5.1-mile-long subway tunnel,
continue through downtown San Jose, and end at grade in Santa Clara near the
Caltrain Station. A maintenance and vehicle storage yard would be at the
terminus of the project in Santa Clara.