Public Input Wanted for BART to Livermore Extension

Submitted by: John McPartland, President, BART Board of Directors

This is a time of unique opportunity for the Tri-Valley, a chance to shape the future. BART and the City of Livermore are drafting a project level Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the proposed BART to Livermore Extension. A program level EIR was adopted in July 2010 and this is the next step toward making the extension a reality.

The project will extend BART service 4.8 miles east from the busy Dublin/Pleasanton station to a new station in the vicinity of the Isabel Avenue/I-580 Interchange. The project will utilize an innovative system to efficiently coordinate express bus transfers to get passengers to the station quickly and easily. The proposal intends to leverage existing infrastructure like the new interchange and HOV lanes to make this happen. There will also be links to Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) trains and to proposed offsite parking facilities.

BART to Livermore makes sense for many reasons. It will not only provide extended service to the best public transportation system in the Bay Area, it will help improve traffic flow on I-580. The environmental benefits include reducing regional greenhouse gas emissions, reducing energy consumption and enhancing the development of environmentally-friendly transit oriented developments.

Naturally, not everyone agrees with the proposed project. In the best tradition of our democracy, the EIR presents the perfect opportunity for everyone to express their opinion and to make it part of the public record. The draft EIR will not only examine the proposed BART extension, it will analyze a range of reasonable alternatives to the Proposed Project.

I invite you to attend a public meeting at 6 p.m. at the Robert Livermore, 4444 East Avenue in Livermore on Wednesday, September 19. If you can’t make the meeting, send written comments to Marianne Payne, EIR Project Manager, 300 Lakeside Dr., 16^th Floor, Oakland, CA, 94612 or mpayne@bart.gov. Comments must be received by October 1, 2012 

Either in person or in writing, we want to hear from you. Learn more about the project at www.bart.gov/livermore.