The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) will begin discussions with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) regarding the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Silicon Valley Phase II project in California, the organization announced on July 8.
The project will extend BART services six miles from the Berryessa Transit Center into downtown San Jose, terminating in Santa Clara. The second phase of the project is expected to transport 52,000 passengers throughout the California Bay Area by 2035.
Amounting to a total funding cost of $5.6 billion, the BART project is the largest single public infrastructure project ever constructed in Santa Clara County, according to the Valley Transit Authority.
The project is part of the Expedited Project Delivery Pilot Program, an initiative that allows the FTA to select up to eight capital transit projects for expedited grant awards, according to the FTA’s website.
The goal of the program is to expedite the delivery of new fixed guideway capital projects, small starts projects, or core capacity improvement projects supported through public-private partnerships. They must also be operated and maintained by employees of an existing public transportation provider, and have a federal share not exceeding 25 percent of the project capital cost.
The FTA started accepting expressions of interest from transit project sponsors for the program in 2018. It received expressions of interest from four agencies for seven projects.
Congress has appropriated $125 million for the program through fiscal year 2019, according to the FTA.
