PROJECT UPDATE: BART WSX
JUNE 2017 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 21
into the area, including Tesla, are
an important factor for BART to
provide service for.
“The extension is actually a
step for BART to pave the way
down south to San Jose. This is
a key development for BART. We
wanted the station to be iconic, a
new type of station experience.
We focused on passenger experience,”
Chen said.
Murphy first came onto the
project in 2005, but said that
the latest leg of the project began
back in 2002. WSP worked
within two different contracts,
the tunnel contract and the system
stations contract — which
was a design-and-build. “The
turning portion was design-andbuild
so (WSP) was charged with
the full design of the structural
elements of the tunnel and the
elements were the tunnel lighting
and the supports associated with
the tunnel operation.”
HNTB came into the project
in 2010.
“The major benefit is opening
up the South Fremont area to the
BART system. Previously they
had to drive up to the downtown
Fremont area to access it,” Scott
Fehnel, associate vice president
and program manager, HNTB
said. “That facility was very saturated
so if you weren’t there by
6 a.m., the parking lot was full.
That pushed people to the freeways.”
Overcoming Challenges
Th is wasn’t the fi rst time that BART
had attempted to move forward
with the Warm Springs extension.
“Th e fi rst was back in the 90s
when a similar extension was
proposed, but didn’t proceed to
fruition. It made it through the
preliminary phase, but it didn’t
get environmental clearance.
Th ere was an issue almost directly
related to outreach parties listening
to one another and it had to
do with how BART would extend
through a very important park of
Fremont, Fremont Central Park,”
explained Medved. “It’s a beautiful
place and it is important to everyone
in Fremont.”
Medved said that the original
proposal for the extension aimed
to have an aerial structure running
through Central Park, but the city
of Fremont preferred a subway.
BART worked to put out a great
deal of information and reformed
the proposed project. Medved said
that BART worked with the community
to create an open forum
for questions and input. “We tried
to remain good listeners and with
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