The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), has awarded WSP USA a contract to manage phase II of the extension of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) rail system to Silicon Valley.

The 16-mile, six-station BART extension from Fremont to Santa Clara is being managed by VTA and implemented in phases.

Phase I is a 10-mile, two-station extension from Fremont to Milpitas and the Berryessa District in San Jose, for which WSP provided conceptual and preliminary engineering. Passenger service is expected to begin in 2018.

Phase II is a 6-mile, four-station extension with a 5-mile tunnel through downtown San Jose. Planning is under way with a review of project plans and an update to the state and federal environmental documents.

As the program manager for phase II of the project, WSP, in joint venture, will be responsible for conceptual design, engineering management, project controls, contracting strategies, utilities coordination, constructability reviews, value engineering, and development of procurement documents.

WSP has a long history of working on projects for BART, beginning in 1953 when the firm was engaged to study the need for rapid transit in the Bay Area. The firm in joint venture served as general engineering consultant for the original system, completed in 1974 with the opening of the BART tunnel under San Francisco Bay.

The firm has also supported most of the expansions of BART during the last three decades, including an extension of the system to San Francisco International Airport that opened in 2003. The firm recently completed an assignment as BART’s owner representative for the Warm Springs extension, which brought BART to Fremont in Alameda County, near the border with Santa Clara County.