BART Is Coming To Pleasanton

Bay Area Rapid Transit has gone from being a distant dream to a near-future reality for Valley residents.

The kick-off of a special advisory committee comprised 9f Chamber of Commerce members from Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore and San Ramon will be on the February 23, Chamber luncheon agenda. During the construction of the BART extension, the committee will serve as a Iiasion between BART and the involved communities.

Construction on the Tri-Valley BART extension project is expected to begin in September 1990, with the first riders in June of 1995. "We are committed to meeting the date of June, 1995 or sooner,' said Bob Allen, BART board director for the Tri-Valley. "I have worked like mad to get (the Tri-Valley extension) and it 1s exciting to see that it is going to become a reality.'

The timeline has started on schedule with the adoption of the conceptual plans in late 1987. The preliminary engineering and environmental assessment will begin in February and is expected to be completed by late 1989. Construction should begin in 1990.

The West Dublin/Pleasanton station will be placed in the median of the I-580 freeway between the I-580 and 1-680 interchange. Preliminary plans call for access to the station by way of a pedestrian footbridge from Stoneridge Mall Road on the south and Golden Gate Drive on the north.

This $231.6 million extension marks the first addition to BART since it opened on September II, 1972 at a cost of almost $2 11illion Alameda County voters approved a one-half cent transportation sales tax to provide the funds for that system under Measure B.

Measure B provides $170 million to build the two part project. The first project is the Dublin/ Pleasanton extension from BART's Bay Fair station, with a station in Castro Valley. The second is an extension from BART's Fremont station to Warm Springs with a station in Irvington.

"The funds are committed for the Castro Valley and West Dublin station but we have included plans for an East Dublin station as a logical extension of service to Dublin;' said Marianne Payne, BART Tri-Valley extension planned. The East Dublin/Pleasanton station would be placed in the center of 1-580 at freeway level Pleasanton access to this station would be a footbridge from a Hacienda Business Park parking lot. Either an

underground walkway or footbridge will provide access from the Camp Parks area

of Dublin.

According to a BART study, the East Dublin station is needed to avoid overloading the West Dublin station and

to potentially increase ridership by five percent. The East Dublin station could be built for an estimated $36.6 million.

By providing better access to communities outside its current 71.5 mile track area, such as Pleasanton and Dublin. BART is quickly becoming a more efficient system.

To see a reproduction of the original article and edition of Pleasanton Pathways, visit: February 22, 1988 Pathways.