New BART service isn’t the only benefit for Santa Clara County residents from VTA’s Berryessa BART Extension project: on top of two new multi-modal transit centers and 10 new miles of tracks, commuters and neighbors will also notice improvements in connectivity along and around the rail corridor and transit center areas.

To help keep local traffic running smoothly, VTA purchased former Union Pacific tracks to build the grade-separated heavy rail tracks for BART trains. From this, eleven grade separations were created along the extension. For residents, drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and bus commuters, this means safe crossing over or under the train tracks without interruption, providing everyone with the opportunity to get to their destination quickly and safely. 

Where are the grade separation improvements? You can find them in:

Milpitas

• Under Dixon Landing Road, Montague Expressway, and Capitol Avenue

San Jose

• Under Trade Zone Boulevard, Hostetter Road, and the Sierra Road/Lundy Avenue intersection
• Over Berryessa Road as it enters the Berryessa/North San José BART Station

In addition to the grade separation improvements, VTA also enhanced existing roadways and created new routes. At both the Milpitas and Berryessa Transit Centers, roadways were added, extended, and enhanced to help provide direct access to parking and pickup/drop-off points. We made sure to address community concerns over added congestion on the Montague Expressway in Milpitas by widening the road with an additional lane for east and west bound traffic.

Through these new roadways, VTA was also able to integrate pedestrian and bicycle pathways and expand regional connectivity. Pedestrians can access the Milpitas Transit Center along Capitol Avenue, Montague Expressway and the newly constructed South Milpitas Boulevard. At the Berryessa Transit Center, Berryessa and Mabury Roads now accommodate six-foot wide, on-street bike lanes and linking to a 12-foot-wide cycle track. This path runs parallel to the new station entrance street, Berryessa Station Way, and connects with Mabury and Berryessa Roads and the Upper Penitencia Creek regional trail system. 

New grade separations and roadway improvements along VTA’s Berryessa BART Extension are among the long list of multi-modal elements planned to complement the new rail service and stations. The goal, as always, is to create more options for station users and neighbors to move through Santa Clara County.

Joe Clayton contributed to this story.