As the second largest award in the country and the largest west of the Hudson River, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has committed to fund US$5.1bn of the BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension.
Considering that VTA has almost secured all the funding required for the US$12.7bn project, it is due to define the funding gap and work with the FTA to identify ways to ensure the project’s long-term success over the next 60 days.
According to VTA general manager and CEO Carolyn Gonot: “The federal commitment had greatly advanced the funding plan, but there was still a critical hole to fill. We want to thank the FTA for their trust in the programme’s planning and in VTA’s ability to deliver it through this major award of US$5.1bn. VTA is fully committed to advancing the programme into engineering and applying for a Full Funding Grant Agreement at the appropriate time.”
Additionally, VTA’s extension of the regional BART system is known as the largest transport infrastructure project in Santa Clara County’s history.
During a ceremony on the site of what will be the West Portal, construction phase was officially started up with a groundbreaking in previous month.Also in order to building the 8km tunnel from Santa Clara and through downtown San José, the TBM will be launched from there.