BART To San Jose Extension Receives Millions In Construction Funding
SAN JOSE (KCBS) – The Bay Area Rapid Transit extension project to San Jose has received an influx of cash - $40 million from the state for construction funding.
Past allocations have gone towards design and engineering. Now, with this added money from the Traffic Congestion Relief Program funding by the California Transportation Commission, passenger service is expected to start in 2017, a year earlier than previously scheduled.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
"We actually began demolition at the future Berryessa station site in July," said project spokeswoman Bernice Alaniz. "This week, we will begin demolition at the future Milpitas station site."
Alaniz said a lot of the construction activity that's going on isn't visible to the public.
"We are actually building some of the sub-structures for some of the bridges that will lead into the access of the stations," she said. "We cross over about eight creeks. There's a lot of work going on in the corridor, moving utilities. Actual station-building construction will start around 2014."
The BART Silicon Valley Project is a 16-mile extension of the current system to San Jose, Milpitas and Santa Clara.
There will be two stations, one in Milpitas and another at Berryessa.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
