☆ Federal Transit Admin (FTA) confirms: BART-to-SJ not a done deal

Image by Wikimedia Commons

Despite local officials acting like full funding has been secured for the super late, wildly expensive, and widely panned BART-to-downtown-SJ project, the facts don't support their claims. According to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the FTA has been very clear with VTA that their funding is only for preliminary work—and further funding is still contingent on future developments and achievements by VTA that are by no means guaranteed. An Opp Now exclusive.

{Editors' note: FTA has not awarded full Capital Investment Grant funding to VTA. The project is a long way from that milestone. The facts are: the FTA recently approved simply *entry* of the downtown SJ project into only the *Engineering phase* of the Capital Investment Grant process. In their approval letter to VTA, FTA stated that its maximum contribution to the project would be $5,098,242,571 (40% of overall project costs)—but only if VTA meets the remaining requirements to reach a Full Funding Grant Agreement, which VTA has yet to do.}

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From FTA’s letter to VTA, as obtained by a curious member of the public through a Freedom of Information Act request:

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is pleased to inform you that the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) request for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project (the Project) to enter the New Starts Engineering phase of the FTA Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program is approved.

This approval to initiate Engineering is a requirement of Federal transit law [49 U.S.C. 5309(g)] governing the Program. The FTA is required by law to evaluate proposed projects against a number of criteria and ensure that prospective grant recipients demonstrate the technical, legal, and financial capability to implement the project.

Please note that the VTA undertakes Engineering work at its own risk, and that the Project must still progress through further steps in the CIG program to be eligible for consideration to receive CIG funding. FTA approved a Letter of No Prejudice covering expenses VTA incurred when it started in New Starts Project Development in March 2016, through the Project's migration to the Expedited Project Development (EPD) Pilot Program, as well as for all remaining work on the project, thereby matching the pre-award authority VTA had been given while it was in the EPD Pilot Program for the estimated total project cost of $9.318 billion.

With this Engineering approval, the VTA can continue automatic pre-award authority to incur costs for engineering activities, utility relocation, real estate acquisition, construction and other non-construction activities such as the procurement of rails, ties, commodities, and other specialized equipment. The VTA should consult with the FTA Region IX office for a determination of whether any other non-construction activity falls within the automatic preaward authority granted with the Engineering approval of the Project.

Sincerely, Raymond Selvin Tellis (FTA)

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Related:

• Analysis: BART has no business pursuing pointless expansion projects

• Perspective (part III of III): What it'll take to grease the wheels of local/State transit

• Analysis: BART's anachronistic, stagnant business model makes DTSJ extension nonsensical

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