Transportation Justice Reports from the Field

How the deal fell through: An annotated guide to the Oakland Airport connector

November 2000 – Alameda County voters approve a sales tax for a list of possible transportation improvements. A new link from the Coliseum BART station to the Oakland International Airport is included in this list. TransForm and other nonprofits begin working with BART on the project.

July 2001 – BART completes a draft of the Environmental Impact Statement on a new link from the Coliseum BART station to the Oakland International Airport. BART Proposes a train which would cost $200 million to build, and then $7.3 million annually to operate (by 2020). For comparison, the existing bus service would cost around $2 million to operate annually.

March 2002 – BART completes the final Environmental Impact Report. It finds that a train on it’s own dedicated track is the preferred option. The BART board votes to build it.

The FTA's decision comes after three advocate groups filed a complaint alleging that BART failed to evaluate whether the project

By Ngoc Nguyen

For the first time since President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act a year ago, his administration has threatened to withhold stimulus money from a transit agency because it failed to comply with federal civil rights laws.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) threatened to pull $70 million in stimulus funds from Northern California’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system because it failed to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits agencies that receive federal funds from discriminatory practices.

Audio/Video:

BART Airport Project Moving Forward Amid Debate
A key regional transit agency voted 11-5 Wednesday to reaffirm its support for using $70 million in federal stimulus funds to help BART build a rail connector between its Coliseum station and the Oakland Airport. Sherry Hu reports.

By Michael Cabanatuan

BART won a heated battle Wednesday to keep alive its Oakland Airport Connector project despite federal threats to withhold $70 million in stimulus funds and a campaign by transit and social equity groups to instead give the money to struggling transit agencies.

By Mike Aldax

OAKLAND — A planned BART connector from the Oakland Coliseum station to Oakland International Airport stayed on track Wednesday, pending an effort by BART to ease civil rights concerns posed by the Federal Transit Administration.