The BART Board of Directors awarded a $267 million contract Thursday for seismic retrofits to the Transbay Tube, work that could cause service disruption to riders between Oakland and San Francisco for more than two years.
While BART officials stressed that the 3.8-mile tunnel can currently withstand a large earthquake, the proposed upgrades would make it able to withstand the kind of catastrophic earthquake only expected to hit the Bay Area every 500 or 1,000 years.
The work would involve installing better interior liners as well as the installation of a new pumping system.
The $267,083,110 contract was awarded to the lowest of three bidders, a joint venture of Oakland-based Shimmick Construction and Pleasanton-based California Engineering Contractors. Funding for the project will primarily come from earthquake safety improvement bonds authorized by voters in 2004.
Work on the upgrades would begin in July 2018 and could take up to two and a half years. But BART management said it could go faster if there are temporary cuts to service at night and early in the morning.
The work would take place during the overnight hours before service opens Monday through Friday, but to extend the available working hours, the agency is considering having only a single track open in the tube after 9:30 p.m. and to open service an hour later, at about 5 a.m.
The reduced service could help the work be completed four months faster and save nearly $15 million but would affect thousands of daily riders.
More than 2,600 people who take BART between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. would need to make other arrangements.
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Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
CoastalBoy said:
cube_corner said:
Better hurry up and increase spending soon! We can't allow a surplus.
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