BART is taking early steps to build a second Transbay rail crossing, perhaps a second Transbay Tube.

Despite BART’s plan to increase capacity through the existing San Francisco’s Transbay Tube, planners project demand for Transbay transit will outpace capacity by 2040 in medium or high demand growth scenarios.

Plan Bay Area, a study by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, estimated that the Bay Area is expected to grow by 2 million people over the next 25 years. BART hopes to begin construction on the second crossing in about 10 years.

BART intends to use a feasibility study to narrow multiple alternatives for the second crossing to a short list of two to four options. Next steps include potentially awarding a contract for that study in mid-2019.

The new Transbay rail crossing, which has an estimated construction cost of $12 - $15 billion, could include both standard width rail tracks (known as standard-gauge) and the wider BART tracks. Including standard-gauge in a new Transbay crossing would present some important opportunities.

BART Planners have identified six key objectives for a new Transbay Rail Crossing. Click here for the program overview and the project contracting plan, click us/124 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2018/news20181114-0. 49/18.