FREMONT — BART’s newest East Bay station was cleared for development Thursday, signaling the start of design and eventual construction of a station now 40 years in the making.
BART’s governing board approved modifications to the proposed Irivington station in Fremont, which was first conceptualized in 1979 and cleared its first round of environmental approvals in 1992. But until 2016, when Alameda County voters approved a new half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, including $120 million for the station, there wasn’t enough funding to build it.
After nearly three decades of study, Fremont city planner Wayland Li said it finally looks like the station’s time has come. Planners anticipate the station will be open by 2026.
“It’s certainly looking like the station is going to get built,” he said.
The $120 million in sales tax funds was intended to cover the full cost of the station build-out, but Li said inflation and construction costs have since risen, meaning it might not be enough to cover the project in today’s dollars. The city of Fremont is actively looking for additional funds to cover the difference.
In the meantime, BART will begin the design of the station, a process that’s expected to be completed by the end of this year, said agency spokeswoman Alicia Trost. Once that happens, BART and city officials will have a clearer sense of the project’s full costs.
Located at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Osgood Road near Fremont’s Irvington District historic town center, the station will feature 225 to 275 parking spaces on the west side of Osgood Road with a greater emphasis on walking and biking to the station.
There will be an aerial walkway linking the sidewalk along Osgood Road with the station and a new section of the East Bay Greenway bicycle path within the site’s boundaries. As part of the station’s development, there will also be improvements made to the historic Gallegos Winery ruins, turning the area into a city park.
It’s a scaled-down version of a concept approved in 2003, when the plan featured 925 parking spaces spread across 25 acres, requiring the acquisition of 16 privately-owned parcels that bordered both sides of Osgood Road.
The approval of the scaled-down plan comes on the heels of the city’s approval in July of the Irvington BART Station Area Plan, which guides the design of future development around the station, balancing the historic character of the town center new development, Li said.
The city’s general plan calls for up to five-story apartment buildings along Osgood Road south of the station and new shops, homes and offices within the Irvington Town Center west of the station.
“It’s a difficult design challenge trying to maintain the more traditional feel of the Irvington Town District and allowing (higher-density) development to occur in that area, as well,” Li said. “Trying to achieve those two things requires careful urban design, and the station area plan attempts to guide the new development to meet all the city’s objectives.”
When it’s completed, the station is expected to attract 1,900 new BART riders, as well as take pressure off the Fremont and South Fremont/Warm Springs stations.
“This is a major step forward, and most importantly takes into account requests for the community” for the station’s scaled-down design, Trost said. “Adding the Irvington station will complete the original vision of the extension and attract new transit riders.”
