The Santa Clara, Calif., Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will host a public meeting in Milpitas, Calif., to inform the community about the Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley's Berryessa Extension Project. This is the first of two meetings.

Attendees will receive a presentation on the overall project, funding status, details of the future Milpitas and Berryessa stations (including conceptual renderings), and current/upcoming activities. After the presentation, participants will have the opportunity to visit display stations and meet with project planners, engineers and community outreach staff to share comments and learn more about various aspects of the project.

A second meeting will be held on October 27 in San Jose.

VTA is seeking $900 million in federal funds for the Berryessa Extension Project through the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) New Starts program, with the balance of capital funding provided by state and local sources including 2000 Measure A revenues.

The BART Silicon Valley Project is a 16-mile extension of the existing BART system to San Jose, Milpitas and Santa Clara, which will be delivered through a phased approach. The first phase, the Berryessa Extension, is a 10-mile, two-station extension, beginning in Fremont at the future BART Warm Springs Station and proceeding on the former Union Pacific right-of-way through Milpitas, the location of the first station, and goes to the Berryessa area of north San Jose, at the second station. VTA continues the design and engineering for the second six-mile phase of the project that includes a 5.1-mile-long subway tunnel through downtown San Jose, and ends at grade in Santa Clara near the Caltrain Station. Construction on the second phase of the project will commence as additional funding is secured.