Favorable federal rating for BART Silicon Valley

The first phase of the Santa Clara, Calif., Valley Transportation Authority's (VTA) BART Extension to Silicon Valley has been given an overall project rating of "medium" in the Federal Transit Administration New Starts Annual Report for Federal Fiscal Year 2011, which was released Feb. 3.

VTA is requesting $900
million in federal New Starts funding, and a medium rating positively positions
the project to qualify and compete for the funding. The first phase of the
project is a 10-mile, two station extension, from Fremont to the Berryessa area
in north San Jose. The project is in the preliminary engineering phase, and it
is scheduled to enter into final engineering next year, at which time it could
be included in next year’s New Starts Annual Report, FFY 2012, eligible for a
funding recommendation.

"The BART Silicon Valley
Project would not have been able to reach this milestone without the continued
leadership and support of our congressional delegation," said Michael T. Burns,
VTA’s General Manager. "Congressman Mike Honda, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren,
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, and Congressman Jerry McNerney deserve special
recognition for championing this project on Silicon Valley’s behalf at the
federal level."

Projects are evaluated on
several criteria that contribute to the overall rating including: Economic
Development, Mobility Improvements, Cost Effectiveness, Transit-Supportive Land
Use, Environmental Benefits, Operating Efficiencies, Local Financial
Commitment, New Starts Share of Total Project Costs, and Capital and Financial
Operating Plans.

"This adds yet another
significant milestone to the rear view of BART’s journey to Silicon Valley.  This rating shows that this project
will compete well against other transit nationally, and it keeps BART on track
to begin carrying Santa Clara County riders by 2018," commented Sam
Liccardo, VTA Board Chair, and City of San Jose Council Member. 

VTA applied for entry into
New Starts preliminary engineering in September 2009, the initial step to
qualify for federal New Starts funding. 
FTA notified Congress of its intent to approve the project into preliminary
engineering in November 2009 and took formal approval action in December
2009.  Federal environmental
clearance, through the issuance of a Federal Environmental Impact Statement, is
expected early spring.

In November 2000, Santa
Clara County voters approved a 30-year one-half cent sales tax to raise funds
for an extension of BART from Fremont to San Jose. In November 2008, Santa
Clara voters approved an additional one-eighth cent sales tax for operation of
the extension, which helped position the project in the federal funding
process. Collection of this tax is dependent on execution of a Full Funding
Grant Agreement from the FTA.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit 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.