BART awards Warm Springs extension contract
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefBART’s Board of Directors on Thursday awarded the second of two major construction contracts advancing its 5.4-mile Warm Springs Extension contract. Fairfield, Calif.-based Warm Springs Constructors was chosen to design and install track and associated facilities, and construct a Warm Springs station; the contract is worth roughly $300 million.
“This is a double dose of good news for East Bay residents,” BART board member Thomas Blalock said. “In the short run, this means tens of thousands of jobs— many for local, out-of-work residents. In the long run, it means tens of thousands of East Bay commuters will be able to relax and ride environmentally-friendly BART instead of sitting frustrated and fuming at heavy 680 or 880 traffic while burning carbon-polluting, expensive gas.”
The eis part of a larger plan to extend BART to Silicon Valley. BART says the Santa Clara County Valley Transportation Authority has taken the lead in the next phase of the project south of Warm Springs called the Berryessa Extension. It will be responsible for bringing BART that much closer to downtown San Jose. Work is scheduled to begin in 2012.
BART said the Warm Springs project, originally estimated to cost $890 million, is $123 million under budget due to “a good bidding environment.”
