Published Wednesday, November 14, 2001, in the Contra Costa Times

San Jose will gain BART line

Transit officials say the pact to build the extension is good for the
East Bay

By Lisa Vorderbrueggen
Contra Costa Times

OAKLAND -- BART ratified a historic pact with Santa Clara County on
Tuesday, clearing the way for the Bay Area to go after money to build
a $3.7 billion rail extension to Silicon Valley.

The BART board voted 7-2 in favor of the extension agreement, with
directors Roy Nakadegawa of Berkeley and Tom Radulovich of San
Francisco opposing it.

The deal includes no promises of much-awaited BART extensions to
Antioch and Livermore, but East Bay BART directors now say they are
confident that a parallel regional transit expansion initiative will
provide such assurances.

"I think we stand a good chance of getting extensions in Antioch and
Livermore," said BART Director Joel Keller of Antioch. "Before
tonight, we stood to miss the train. Now, we're on the train."

"I now feel that we will not be left sitting out there by ourselves,"
said Peter Snyder of Dublin. "We have a lot of work to do, but I'm
confident we will be on the list."

To woo skeptical BART directors such as Keller and Snyder, the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission director vowed to advocate new
language in the draft regional expansion plan that merges its two
lists: projects with money and those without it.

"We propose to eliminate the distinction and provide a commitment
that the commission will stand behind all projects in the plan
equally," commission director Steve Heminger told the BART board.

Keller also wants the pot sweetened by $50 million for short-term
improvements at the Pittsburg BART station. "An extension is a long
way down the road, and we need better access now," Keller said.

The $10 billion expansion plan, which goes to the commission for a
vote in mid-December, lists $95 million for Antioch and $80 million
for the Tri-Valley to buy a right of way for a transit line. Both
projects would still need to find millions of additional dollars for
construction and operations costs.

But if the commission goes along with Heminger, the East Bay
extensions will enjoy the same political standing as some of its
predecessors.

The draft plan is the successor to Resolution 1876, which was adopted
in 1988. It set in motion, among other things, BART extensions to the
airport, Dublin/Pleasanton and Pittsburg.

Keller and Snyder had vowed to oppose the BART extension deal with
the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority unless the regional
expansion plan offered Antioch and Livermore equity.

Powerful lawmakers such as Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, and state
Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, had also threatened to withhold favor.

That would have left the commission without key support in its push
next year in Washington, D.C., to obtain $834 million in federal
money for the Silicon Valley BART extension.

Nakadegawa opposed the pact because he believes the extension will
not attract the numbers of riders shown in the studies and will be
too expensive. Radulovich voted no because he wanted a one-week delay
in order to allow San Francisco officials a more thorough review
period.

Lisa Vorderbrueggen covers transportation. Reach her at 925-945-4773
or lvorderbrueggen@cctimes.com.