Extension of BART Service Wins Approval
Jubilant directors of the Bay Area Rapid Transit district have reached an agreement to extend lines in the East Bay and to build an extension to a station near San Francisco International Airport.
“This is a big, giant step. We are on our way to finally circling San Francisco Bay,” said BART Director Nello Bianco of El Sobrante, whose support of the project was crucial.
Bianco has insisted for nearly 20 years that East Bay residents who pay BART taxes but receive no rail service should get service before San Mateo County, which does not belong to BART. The airport is in San Mateo County.
Earlier in the week, a BART committee reached agreement with San Mateo County officials on the specifics of extending BART tracks from Daly City to Millbrae.
The vote by BART directors affirmed that agreement, in which San Mateo, which has never been a part of the transit district, agreed to pay $200 million as its share in joining the district.
Under terms of the agreement, BART will use money from San Mateo County, plus matching federal, state and local sales taxes, to build lines to West Pittsburg and Warm Springs.
If all four planned extensions are built, the 34-station BART system will gain 10 stations and be lengthened from 71.5 miles to more than 100 miles. The construction would be completed in the early 1990s.
The 7.1-mile extension in San Mateo County will end about a mile from the airport at a station where both BART and CalTrain riders can transfer to smaller shuttle trains to the airport.
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