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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently announced a plan to allocate $24 million in Proposition 1B funds this year to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to strengthen the Transbay Tube, a 3.6-mile tunnel that runs under the San Francisco Bay.

The project is part of the agency’s $1.3 billion Earthquake Safety Program designed to retrofit and strengthen the original BART system that was built between 1972 and 1976. System extensions, which were built mostly during the 1990s, were constructed under more stringent seismic criteria and do not need to be strengthened, according to BART.

There is a 62 percent chance that one or more major earthquakes will hit the bay area by 2032, according to a U.S. Geological Survey statistical analysis.

In November 2006, California voters approved Proposition 1B, which enables the state to sell $19.9 billion in general obligation bonds for transportation improvements.