advertisement

---

Last November, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco county residents approved a $980 million bond measure for Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) Earthquake Safety Program.

This week, the agency released a status report on the project, which is designed to strengthen stations, elevated tracks and the Transbay Tube to withstand a massive earthquake.

BART has selected retrofit methods for the tube, stations and tracks, and awarded several design and construction-related contracts. Now, the agency will begin final project design.

Construction on the Transbay Tube — which runs under the bay and is used by BART to move half its daily traffic (about 165,000 riders) — is scheduled to begin in mid-2007. The agency plans to thicken the soil surrounding the tube and secure the tube to the bay floor.

The U.S. Geological Survey predicts there is a 67 percent chance that at least one earthquake with a 6.7 or higher magnitude on the Richter Scale will strike the Bay Area by 2032.