Commission Revisits Federal Stimulus Funding Commitment for Oakland Airport Connector

UPDATE: February 12, 2010

Special meeting CANCELED. See memo at right.

January 28, 2010 ... MTC voted yesterday to maintain a $70 million commitment of federal stimulus moneys to BART's Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) Project to allow time for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and BART to come to an agreement on the transit agency's compliance with federal civil rights requirements.

MTC originally set aside the $70 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for the Oakland Airport Connector in July 2009 by moving it into the first tier of projects to benefit from the federal funding program. That commitment came into jeopardy when the FTA sent a letter dated January 10, 2010, questioning the completeness of BART's Title VI analysis.

Those compliance issues deal with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which, in part, governs how transit agencies reach out to low-income, minority and limited English proficiency communities when making service and fare changes.

At yesterday's heavily attended monthly Commission meeting, MTC affirmed its support for programming $70 million of ARRA funds to the OAC project subject to FTA approval of a BART Title VI action plan by February 16, 2010, and subject to a review by MTC of this action plan at a special MTC meeting to take place on February 17, 2010. The issue must be resolved by the statutory March 5, 2010, deadline for obligating ARRA grants.

As for the project's construction status, the BART Board of Directors authorized a contract for the job in early December 2009, with construction set to begin in mid-2010. According to BART, the $492 million project should create between 2,500 and 5,200 jobs during the three-and-a-half year construction phase. These include jobs in the construction, electrical, steel fabrication and other building trades.

California-based Flatiron/Parsons Joint Venture won the contract to design and build the 3.2-mile automated people mover (APM). Doppelmayr Cable Car, Inc.won the contract to operate and maintain the connector once built. The connector will replace the AirBART buses that often are bogged down by Hegenberger Road traffic, Coliseum sporting events, freight trains and accidents. The APMs will be all-electric and run on a fixed, elevated guideway above the congestion. The APMs will arrive at the Coliseum BART Station every 4.5 minutes and will quickly transport air travelers to the airport in just over eight minutes.