Construction workers broke ground on BART’s expansion in Santa Clara this week, and officials are banking on federal funding to help finish the job.
Santa Clara County Supervisor and VTA Board Chair Cindy Chavez and other labor leaders urged the Federal Transportation Agency on Tuesday to approve VTA’s $6.2 billion funding request to support the BART expansion into Silicon Valley, which would cover just under half of the public transit project’s total $12.75 billion cost. Chavez said the federal funding will be announced “any day now,” and that any less than the full amount threatens VTA’s ability to finish the project.
“The reason we’re out here getting our voices heard is that we know there is a risk and we don’t want that risk for our community,” Chavez told San José Spotlight. “It’s been generations of dreams trying to get BART all the way into downtown San Jose and Santa Clara. We are fighting hard to make sure that happens.”
