Published Thursday, November 9, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News

BY SANDRA GONZALES
Mercury News

With Alameda County voters overwhelmingly approving a half-cent sales tax extension for 20 more years, another type of extension -- BART to Warm Springs -- is on a fast track to finally becoming a reality.

Construction could possibly begin in two years, Bay Area Rapid Transit District officials say. The Warm Springs extension is necessary before the mass-transit system can eventually head into downtown San Jose.

``We have a mandate in both counties saying it should happen,'' BART Board President Thomas Blalock said Wednesday about votes in both Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

Alameda's Measure B is expected to raise about $1.4 billion for a variety of transportation measures, including the BART extension to southern Fremont. Voters in Santa Clara County also resoundingly approved Measure A -- a 30-year tax that stands to raise about $6 billion to fund mass-transit improvements throughout Silicon Valley, with one-third paying to extend BART to downtown San Jose.

Supporters of the Alameda County measure savored their lopsided win in Tuesday's balloting.

Other projects included

``It was amazing,'' said Jeff Hobson, the Alameda County coordinator for the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition. ``It really shows that voters see that public transit is the life preserver to rescue us from drowning in traffic.''

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty credited the measure's success to its inclusion of a variety of projects, from pedestrian and bicycle access to the BART extension to improving city streets.

``It addressed all the congestion corridors in Alameda County and the quality of life here,'' said Haggerty, who served as co-chair of the measure's campaign. ``People are fed up with gridlock and willing to invest their own money to help manage congestion.''

In addition, the measure's success gives the county more leverage to obtain state and federal funds, Haggerty said.

Measure B sets aside $165 million to help pay for the BART extension to southern Fremont, but money from the measure will not begin to accumulate until mid-2002.

Before a Warms Springs extension can get under way, an environmental impact report for the project must be updated, preliminary engineering work must be completed and a decision must be made on whether to construct the extension all at once or in phases. Funding for the entire project also must be identified. To complete the project, an additional $380 million, which is expected to come from state, federal and local sources, is needed.

``Usually the limitation is funding dollars,'' said BART General Manager Tom Margro. Nonetheless, Margro anticipates preliminary work on the project will begin within a year, with possible construction starting in two years.

Merger of projects possible

At the same time, there's a strong likelihood that BART and the Valley Transportation Authority could fold together the two projects -- BART to Warm Springs and BART to San Jose, said Christine Monsen, executive director of the Alameda County Transportation Authority, which administers the Measure B funds.

``We're working together to deliver the project the most efficiently and we haven't figured it out yet,'' Monsen said.

Contact Sandra Gonzales at sgonzales@sjmercury.com or 
(510) 839-5321.