BART construction beginning in downtown San Jose

Let the construction noise and traffic jams begin.

Early next week, initial construction will begin on bringing BART to downtown San Jose.

According to a construction notice, the work will begin along Santa Clara Street between S. Market Street and N. 3rd Street the week of Jan. 21 and last up to seven weeks.

Plans aren’t even complete yet and the actual stations aren’t expected to open until 2026 or so, but the Valley Transportation Authority, which is overseeing the project, needs geotechnical and utility data to flesh out its final design.

Related Articles Opinion: Megaprojects are hard. Let’s get BART extension right

New downtown San Jose transit village comes into view

Editorial: Electing Allen and Wallace crucial for BART’s solvency

Oakland: Woman on trackway forced MacArthur BART station closure

26-story housing highrise eyed in downtown San Jose According to the notice, crews will be boring into the ground in parking spaces, the sidewalks and on the road. While at least one lane of traffic will be open during the work, residents and workers in the area can expect some delays. The drilling is expected to be about the same noise level as a lawn mower.

Major construction isn’t expected downtown until 2020.

In the future, four new stations will extend BART into north San Jose, through downtown and into Santa Clara.

“I don’t think it will make much of a difference,” said Adolfo Perez, whose family opened the new restaurant Claudia’s Pastes on Santa Clara Street a couple of months ago, of the construction phase.

The savory and sweet pastry shop doesn’t have any parking out front right now, anyway, Perez said, so the work likely won’t affect his business.

But Perez said he’s excited about the possibility of more foot traffic — and more customers — once BART is up and running downtown.

“It’s definitely great for commuters,” he said. “There’s tons of public transportation around here.”

The expansion of BART to San Jose, along with Google’s plans to build a massive campus near Diridon Station, could transform the core of the nation’s 10th largest city.

Already, the tech giant’s project has launched a building boom downtown, with developers proposing new office space, stores, houses and hotels.

For now, all the projects mean lots of construction, already evidenced by the spate of cranes dotting San Jose’s skyline. If everything goes according to plan, Google could break ground on their campus a few years before the BART expansion is done, around 2022, with construction lasting until 2035 or so. Separately, a redesign of Diridon Station is in the works, with connections to high-speed rail a possibility for the future.

Share this: Print

View more on The Mercury News