Bay Area’s BART extension to Santa Clara closer to reality

Driving the news: The $375 million commitment by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a state agency that oversees transportation planning in the Bay Area, brings total state funding for the project to $1.5 billion.

• That's on top of $375 million from Bay Area voter-approved regional measures and $4.3 billion from Santa Clara County's local sales tax measures.

State of play: The first phase of the project, which extended service from Alameda County into Santa Clara County with stops at Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José, broke ground in 2012 and opened for passengers in 2020.

• The second phase, currently in design and engineering, would further extend the line six miles from the Berryessa Transit Center to stations at 28th Street/Little Portugal, downtown San José and Diridon Station — with service ending in Santa Clara.

What's next: VTA expects to receive an additional $6 billion — roughly 50% of the latest stage of the project's total cost — from the Federal Transit Administration in late 2024.

• The amount of local and state funding already allocated gives the project a competitive advantage, according to the transit agency, which called the federal grant the "last remaining piece of the funding pie."
• The VTA board chair also recently announced the creation of an ad-hoc oversight committee that will regularly provide updates on the project in a bid for transparency.