The Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 4 celebrated Monday the start of construction on the final segment of the State Route 4 corridor projects, which includes the construction of the eBART station facilities in Antioch. This marks an important step in the $1.3 billion endeavor to improve transportation in eastern Contra Costa County between Pittsburg and Brentwood.

According to CCTA Executive Director Randy Iwasaki, “The voters of Contra Costa County have shown that they value better transportation options and multimodal investments when they reauthorized a countywide half-cent sales tax measure in 2004 through Measure J. The Highway 4 projects fulfill the vision of improved mobility and transit access from eastern Contra Costa County to the greater Bay Area for the more than 250,000 residents of eastern Contra Costa County.”

“For many years, residents of East County, one of the fastest-growing areas of the Bay Area, have been paying to support BART while dealing with some of the worst traffic in the area,” said BART Director Joel Keller. “The eBART extension addresses this need. Additionally, not only does the construction phase create jobs, eBART will bring jobs to East County, and greatly increase access to jobs throughout the Bay Area for East County residents. As part of BART’s commitment to the community, we have established a Local Hire program for eBART construction contracts, and are participating in the Helmets to Hardhats effort to employ veterans returning from service.”

“Caltrans worked very closely with our local partners to develop these vital transportation projects,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Everyone will benefit when our work is done – commuters, businesses and local residents.”