Nighttime Aerial Acrobatics for Oakland Airport Connector Project

BART and Caltrans closed all lanes of northbound Interstate 880 (I-880) at Hegenberger Road in Oakland on Sunday, March 17 between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. to allow crews to construct the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) system’s guideways above I-880. The aerial work to install this segment of guideway signifies a major milestone for the Oakland Airport Connector project. The more than 300-foot long span — comprised of more than 150 tons of steel supported by concrete columns over the highway’s northbound and southbound lanes — will allow the cable-propelled system to travel above highway traffic to and from the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART Station and Oakland International Airport. A second freeway closure is planned for Sunday, March 24.

About the Oakland Airport Connector

The Oakland Airport Connector is a 3.2-mile extension of BART from the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART Station to Oakland International Airport (OAK), via an “Automated Guideway Transit (AGT)” system. The OAC will replace the AirBART buses, and will provide a seamless connection between BART and OAK with driverless trains that travel the alignment in eight minutes and depart every four minutes.

The AGT system, designed by Doppelmayr Cable Car, rests on a mostly elevated guideway that spans the length of the Hegenberger Road business corridor. The system also includes two new stations at each end of the line, an operations power and maintenance facility, and a subway underneath Doolittle Drive.

Construction is underway at OAK along Airport Drive and at the site of the system's Airport Station (in the parking area adjacent to Terminal 1), as well as other locations along Doolittle Drive, 98th Avenue, Hegenberger Road and San Leandro Street in Oakland. Once the guideway is installed across Interstate 880, the project will be more than 60 percent complete. Construction is scheduled to be complete in late 2013, and, after several months of systems testing, the OAC will open for service in late 2014. MTC is contributing $179 million ($146.2 million in bridge toll funds plus $32.8 million in state bond funds) to the $484 million project.

For more details about the OAC, call 510-464-6463, email oaklandairportconnector@bart.govor visit www.bart.gov/oac.