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The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board recently gave the green light to advance $1 billion worth of transit expansion projects.

The agency plans to construct a $479 million "eBART" extension into eastern Contra Costa County. BART would operate Diesel Multiple Units along the 10-mile line, which would extend service beyond the Pittsburg/Bay Point station, down the median of Highway 4, through Pittsburg and Antioch, and terminate in Antioch.

Scheduled to be complete in 2015, the project would be funded through state, local and regional sources. BART expects the project to support and/or create about 15,000 jobs, and generate about $1 billion in economic activity.

Meanwhile, the board also approved two significant elements of a funding plan for the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project: to receive $70 million in federal stimulus funds, and support the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's recommendation to re-assign the project $50 million in savings that BART achieved from its Transbay Tube Earthquake Safety project.

The Board postponed its vote on the final piece of OAC funding that BART's responsible for — the up to $150 million in federal financing — until the public has a chance to see the final ridership analysis that supports the federal financing plan.

The 3.2-mile elevated connector would run between the Coliseum BART Station and Oakland International Airport. The project is expected to support and/or create about 13,000 jobs and generate $1.2 billion in economic activity.