Construction Begins On BART Oakland Airport Connector
OAKLAND (CBS/AP) - Construction is underway on the Bay Area Rapid Transit's connector extension to Oakland International Airport though criticism of the project's $500 million price tag and potential to create jobs continues.
Concrete columns that will support the 3.2-mile connector's elevated track are going up. The project—a cable-drawn train system—is expected to be completed by 2014.
KCBS' Bob Melrose Reports:
Critics, including a BART board member, claim the extension is unnecessary. The cost has risen from an initial projection of $130 million. The job projections, meanwhile, have dropped from 13,000 to about 2,500.
BART officials said the initial cost estimate was not accurate and they did not make it. The train will be faster and more reliable than the current bus system connecting BART to the airport, officials claim.
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