Environmental Clearance for BART’s Earthquake Safety Program has four components:
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Berkeley Hills Tunnel to the Montgomery Station, which includes the highest priorities for strengthening such as the Transbay Tube.
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Lake Merritt Administration Building (LMA) Dismantling.
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OKS Radio Site Project.
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All remaining elements of the BART system that will be strengthened under the Earthquake Safety Program.
Completed Environmental Clearances
Berkeley Hills Tunnel to Montgomery Station
Earthquake Safety Program Environmental Assessment Response to Comments Issued
BART has prepared an Environmental Assessment to satisfy National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental clearance for the first portion of upgrade work. In March of 2006, BART issued a Response to Comments on the Environmental Assessment and received a Finding of No Significant Impact from the United States Department of Transportation. Download the Response to Comments on the Environmental Assessment (part 1), which contains the Finding of No Significant Impact:
Response to Comments on the Environmental Assessment,
Part 1 of 3 (1.6 Mb)
Part 2 of 3 (2.8 Mb)
Part 3 of 3 (2.8 Mb)
BART, Caltrans, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released the Environmental Assessment (EA) in August of 2005. Download the EA:
Environmental Assessment (3.4 Mb)
Lake Merritt Administration Building (LMA) Dismantling & OKS Radio Site Projects
For details on the environmental process for the LMA Dismantling and OKS Radio Site projects click here.
Aerial Structures and Stations along the Concord, Richmond, Daly City and Fremont Lines
This project is exempt by statute from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). As a condition of the exemption, BART held three workshops to ensure public awareness of the retrofit work.
In order for the project to use federal funds for some project components, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), as federal lead agency, determined that the project potentially qualified to proceed under a Categorical Exclusion (CE) from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). At FHWA’s request, for purposes of making a final CE determination, BART prepared a series of environmental technical study reports. BART also held a public hearing on April 25, 2007 to obtain public comments.
On August 3, 2007, based on the final results of the technical studies, FHWA and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) determined that the project qualified for a CE, and the project is now eligible for federal funding.
