BART Oakland Airport Extension Work Begins Amidst Criticism

Construction on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system's extension to the Oakland Airport began this week, and critics of the project are none too pleased.

Anyone who's ever tried to take public transportation to the Oakland Airport knows it can be a hassle to switch from the BART train at the Coliseum station to the AirBART bus shuttle. The elevated, cable-powered, 3.2-mile extension will take future passengers directly into the clutches of OAK, and planners expect the work to be completed by 2014.

But many, including a member of BART's own board, believe the $500 million in funding the complete the extension would be better spent elsewhere.

"None of the problems with this project have gone away just because they have broken ground," John Knox-White, executive director of TransForm, a transportation watchdog group, told the Oakland Tribune. "This was a political pet project that was pushed through because many people had been working on something that looked like this for a long time."

Critics are quick to point out that the project's initial budget of $130 million has already swelled to nearly four times its size, while the estimated job projections have shrunk from 13,000 to 2,500. The Federal Transit Administration also blocked $70 million in funds for the extension last year, according to the Associated Press.

Proponents, however, are quick to tout the benefits. "There was a lot of debate about the San Francisco airport expansion, but now anybody you ask raves about it," BART spokesman Jim Allison told the Tribune. "You are going to see something similar in the future with the airport connector."

Yet even some within the BART family have publicly aired their grievances. "With the earlier BART administration, there were a lot of promises made that are not being met, and there is no way they will be," BART board member Robert Raburn told the Trib.

BART has big plans to balloon into other territories beyond Oakland Airport. Last December, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority approved $772 million in funds to go towards a ten-mile extension route that would run all the way to San Jose.

Comments

[Hrover]

02:24 PM on 01/05/2012

Can't wait till the Airport Extension is done. Not safe to take the bus from Bart to the airport.

[Phalanxman]

01:00 AM on 01/05/2012

Are "critics" ever happy about anything? Get over it.

[lijebailey]

09:03 PM on 01/04/2012

My guess is that if they'd been able to start the work when the project was first proposed, it would have cost much less. However, the "critics" have jammed it up for years, leading to higher costs. Perhaps they should have to shoulder some of those costs. Trains should be built to go where people want to go. And, LOTS of people want to go to the Oakland airport every day.

[spongeworthy06]

06:57 PM on 01/04/2012

Isnt this politics 101, just lie about the cost so you can get started, then keep asking for more once you have the project underway, because of course you cant let the original 130 million be all for nothing. DISGUSTING

[RoundBobs]

03:49 PM on 01/04/2012

Only 500 million dollars for three miles? Gee, that's great. Money? No problem. We'll just close down the rest of the state's state parks.

[seabreeze12]

02:45 PM on 01/04/2012

A line to the Oakland Airport seems to make sense just as the line to SFO proved to be a smart move. The line to the Oakland Airport probably should have been built right from the get-go.

The article later states, "Last December, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority approved $772 million in funds to go towards a ten-mile extension route that would run all the way to San Jose."

Excuse me...
$772 million to go ten miles!!?? Is this some kind of a joke? The public always seems to get super screwed for these projects that cost soooo much money...
Something is serious out of line... Or is it just my imagination??

[addisonsteele]

12:43 PM on 01/04/2012

Ever since its creation, BART has been studied as one of the greatest engineering planning disasters ever. It just continues on this road.

[Lindytindy]

11:18 AM on 01/04/2012

Better idea than the 'bullet' train boondoggle, it will help commuters and that is where the transportation money should be spent, the Bay Area has the worst commute traffic in the nation. Cancel the bullet train, and extend BART to Santa Rosa and Sacramento. Extend BART to parallel the horrific 680 corridor from Benicia to San Jose.

[Michael D Montoya]

07:24 AM on 01/04/2012

Construction has started months ago. You can see the columns etc... going up in the OAK parking lots... I think this is a great idea and a good project. I usually get on BART at the Pleasanton/Dublin station and when the OAK extension is done will make my many trips to the airport that much easier and more convenient. The SFO extension has also proven to be a winner and my weekly trips to that airport are never in a car now but simply a easy BART ride... I can hardly wait for BART to extend to San Jose and it's airport... now if they can only extend BART up the peninsula and to the Milbrae station would be great... However the critics would rather have CalTrain and it's polluting trains rather than BART.

[IDIOTA]

07:24 AM on 01/04/2012

It never made sense to have to switch to a shuttle to get to the airport, but perhaps that money could be better spent.

[skyslimit]

11:18 PM on 01/03/2012

When is a "critic" ever pleased? By definition!

[Stan Osborn]

09:57 PM on 01/03/2012

Bunch of whiners.

This reminds me of something similar from the 1960's: The decision was made that BART would not be a 24 hour system. Adding a third maintenance track would cost too much.

The biggest complaint today in the BART FAQs?

“Why isn't BART a 24 hour system?”

They won't say it but the answer is: Because your parents were cheap and had no vision.

[Thankgoodness]

01:15 AM on 01/04/2012

THANK YOU!!!

[IDIOTA]

07:25 AM on 01/04/2012

Hilarious!!!!!

[jumpinjezebel]

08:45 PM on 01/03/2012

If they were smart they'd make a law that any vehicle seeking access to the airport by 2015 would be electric, natural gas, hyrdogen or other alternative fueled. Give the cab companies a push in the right direction and provide stations/chargers for free, etc. All win-win ideas should be adopted. If my company charged me to park my guzzler and it was free (and chargers provided) for an electric I'd think about it. Maybe a city ordinance would start that ball rolling via property tax increases if they don't.