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The effort to construct a new parking garage at the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station took another step forward last week as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced the Tri-Valley project was among those to share in $9.3 million in funding from bridge toll revenue.
Based on project cost estimates, the $7 million allocated from Regional Measure 2 revenue to the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) represents the final piece of funding needed to build the new parking structure adjacent to the existing BART garage on the Dublin side of the station.
“This a great way to improve the quality of life for a lot of commuters who don’t live within walking distance of a BART station or bus stop,” Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who is also MTC chair, said in a statement.
“Among the ways to reduce congestion on East Bay freeways is to make it more convenient for people to ride transit; and one of the best ways to improve convenience is to solve the chronic parking shortages at so many of our key transit stops,” Haggerty said.
The proposed $34 million, 537-space parking structure aims to provide a needed addition to the parking supply at Dublin-Pleasanton, where the existing BART garage with nearly 3,000 spaces is often filled early on the morning commute. Haggerty joined state and local leaders in devising the plan after BART declined to move forward with building its own second garage at the station.
The project, which held a ceremonial groundbreaking last October, is expected to see onsite construction begin on the new garage next spring, with the opening scheduled for mid-2021.
The $7 million commitment from MTC supplements $20 million in state funds awarded to the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority for the project through the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, plus another $7 million in vehicle registration fee money contributed by the ACTC.
The other $2.3 million in funding awarded by MTC last week will go to completing a trio of commuter parking lots served by AC Transit’s transbay buses through MTC’s Bay Bridge Forward initiative. The three commuter parking lots now under construction in the East Bay — two lots beneath Interstate 880 at High Street and Fruitvale Avenue in Oakland and a third lot adjacent to Interstate 80 at Buchanan Street in Albany — are scheduled to open by the end of this year.
Regional Measure 2 was approved by Bay Area voters in 2004 and raised tolls by $1 on each of the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges to finance highway and transit improvements in the bridge corridors and along their approaches, as well as to provide operating support for transit services in the bridge corridors.
