SANTA CLARA, Calif. — City council on Oct. 7 unanimously approved revisions to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s construction plan for the BART extension it’s building, allowing around-the-clock work at the future Santa Clara station site.
The extension isn’t expected to be open for passenger service until 2037, but VTA’s Chief Megaprojects Delivery Officer Tom Maguire said the change was needed to maintain the project’s timeline and budget.
“We’ve got a tough job out there,” Maguire told the Peninsula Press in an interview. “[This] vote helps us stay on schedule and do a great job for the people of Santa Clara County.”
Construction is now extended from 22 to 24 hours a day Monday through Saturday. The amended plan also permits maintenance work on Sundays, but truck hauling remains restricted to other days of the week.
VTA expects the extension to cost $12.7 billion, up from its 2019 estimate of $5.5 billion. Despite a commitment of more than $5 billion from the Federal Transit Administration, the project still faces a $600 million shortfall — money Maguire said VTA must find to avoid jeopardizing the grant.
The six-mile rail extension begins at the existing Berryessa/North San José station and will add a five-mile tunnel and four new BART stations. It ends at the aboveground Santa Clara station where trains will enter and exit the tunnel. This project is VTA’s first foray into subway construction.
The extension will provide walkable access to the city’s Caltrain station, completing “the electrified ring of rail around the Bay,” Maguire said.
Erica Roecks, a VTA executive, outlined the various outreach programs done around the site, including distributing construction notices and hosting meetings.
“We’ve been out and about in the community and making sure that everyone’s aware of what’s going on,” Roecks said.
To reduce construction noise impacting residents, VTA installed a noise curtain — a thick drape that reduces sound transmission — along one side of the construction site over the summer. Sound and vibration monitoring is also in place.
“Since we started night work in June of 2025, we have had zero noise complaints,” Roecks said.
She added that nearby establishments like Santa Clara University, PayPal Park, Costco and Apple didn’t have any concerns about the extended work hours. Sean Collins, associate vice president of university operations at Santa Clara University, said the school has been actively working with VTA on the Santa Clara station project.
“We appreciate VTA’s ongoing efforts to keep stakeholders informed of construction activities and their work to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhoods,” Collins said in an email.
Sarah Wilson, VTA’s construction director of the project, explained the request for additional hours stemmed from the time-sensitive process of pouring wall panels. Construction, which began in April, now calls for continuous work to properly install the reinforced concrete walls of the support structure where the tunnel boring machine — the machine that will rapidly excavate the five-mile tunnel — will be launched from.
“It’s huge for the community because it reduces the duration of work out there [since] we’re not sitting there waiting for the next work window,” Wilson said.
Despite the amendment passing with a 5-0 vote, some council members were concerned by the lack of foresight. Councilmember Suds Jain, who sits on the VTA board’s project oversight committee, questioned the VTA representatives about why the original plan the council approved didn’t account for this need.
“Why did we even go to 22 hours? Did we not know that if you’re going to do these long slurry walls that you have to run 24 hours?” Jain said. “I mean that seems like kind of an oversight.”
Roecks explained VTA lacked the expertise when the council approved the initial plan in 2023.
The vote also granted City Manager Jovan Grogan or a designee the ability to approve minor modifications to the construction plan, including annual updates or supplemental plans.
“We want to use these public funds as well as possible,” Councilmember Karen Hardy said.
“Go forth and make us a great project,” Hardy added.
No members of the public had comments or questions regarding the proposal.
