Congress Appropriates $40 Million for BART-SFO Extension.

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 1998--BART Board President James Fang and SamTrans Board President Mike Nevin today announced that the BART-SFO Extension project will receive $40 million in federal funding for fiscal year 1999.

The funding appropriation was approved by Congress today as part of an omnibus bill which incorporates the Department of Transportation funding bill for the 1999 federal fiscal year.

The BART-SFO Extension project is now well under way with contracts representing over 90 percent of the construction awarded and proceeding on schedule. Site preparation and utility relocation have been underway since August of 1997, and BART awarded design/build contracts for main line construction ($526 million) and for construction of the Millbrae Station and parking structure ($70 million) this past February. Work on the extension and the BART station at the San Francisco International Airport, which is being managed by the airport as part of its $2.5 billion expansion program, is also well into construction.

"While the amount of the appropriation for next year is less than the $74 million called for in the Clinton Administration's Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) for the project, it is adequate to keep the project on track with subway construction scheduled to begin in November," Fang said. "This was a difficult and very competitive year in Washington. But, the future looks bright. With the passage this year of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21), the federal funding authorization for New Rail Starts was increased by 70 percent, or from $5.4 billion between 1992 and 1997, to $9.2 billion from 1998 through the year 2003."

Nevin noted that the BART-SFO Extension competed with over 100 other transit projects across the country for federal funding. "We are greatly encouraged by the fact that, with the strong support and advocacy by the Bay Area Congressional Delegation, the BART-SFO project was among the top ten in the nation in terms of the level of the appropriation and received the highest appropriation among rail transportation projects in California."

The federal commitment, under the FFGA, is for $750 million to be appropriated on a year-to-year basis over the next six years. BART, to date, has received $114 million in federal funding for the BART-SFO Extension project. All federal money for the project comes through BART's funding partner, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). In addition to FTA, BART's other funding partners are SamTrans, the State of California, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and the San Francisco International Airport.

The 8.7-mile project will extend BART from its current San Mateo County terminus in Colma, south with stations in South San Francisco, Tanforan Shopping Center in San Bruno, inside the San Francisco International Airport, and on down to Millbrae.