On Friday, VTA announced that the federal government would fund $5.1Billion toward the BART Silicon Valley project, about 41% of the cost of the project, currently estimated at $12.7 billion. This leaves a gap of $1.2Billion from the amount that VTA had been requesting, and a gap of $700million to complete the project, following the recent reallocation of $500 million in Measure A funds in late June. General Manager Gonot told KQED that VTA would be looking to close the gap via cost savings, and board chair Chavez said at the press conference that the agency would seek to renegotiate contracts.
The 41% federal share of the project is similar to the recent federal contribution to the Portal project connecting Caltrain to the Salesforce terminal, which faces a gap of about $2.5 billion. That project is on hold pending additional funding.
The BART Silicon Valley project broke ground in June while waiting to hear about the amount of federal funding.
Meanwhile, design work continues on stations, including major open questions about the Diridonstation where questions remain about both sides of the BART/Caltrain connection.