By Khalida Sarwari
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority invites the public to learn about the BART Silicon Valley Extension Project at three upcoming community meetings in San Jose.
“The meetings are a really good opportunity for the community to learn about and understand the project,” Bernice Alaniz, a spokeswoman for the project said.
The meetings will feature a presentation on current and near-term project activities, anticipated schedule, design options for the stations, intersection configurations and funding status, including the Federal New Starts Program funding request for $850,000 million.
The meetings are also an opportunity to visit display stations and meet with project planners, engineers and community outreach staff.
The next meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the San Jose Unified School District Board room, located at 855 Lenzen Ave.
On Aug. 4, there will be another meeting at 6 p.m. at San Jose City Hall, located at 200 E. Santa Clara St.
The final meeting will be held on Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Berryessa Library, located at 3355 Noble Ave.
The proposed 16.1-mile BART extension would expand the system through Milpitas and Santa Clara into San Jose. The VTA is the lead agency on the $6 billion project. According to the project schedule, construction will likely begin next year, with service starting in 2018.
Fore more information about the meetings or the project, contact VTA-BART community outreach at (408) 934-2662 or e-mail vtabart@vta.org.