San Antonio in Oakland is one of the densest neighborhoods in the Bay Area, with about 16,000 people per square mile. It has a BART line—trains going from San Francisco and downtown Oakland to Berryessa and Dublin/Pleasant shoot right through. But while residents of San Antonio and the surrounding communities can see and hear BART, they can't easily take it.
"There's no BART station for the almost three miles between Fruitvale and Lake Merritt," said ten-year-San Antonio resident Ben Matlaw and a member of the advocacy group San Antonio Station Alliance (SASA), in an interview with Streetsblog. "They're expanding BART into the exurbs, to new, far-flung developments, but what about the dense neighborhoods that already exist?"
SASA members want a new BART station at Oakland's 14th Avenue. "It's at grade, so it should be cheaper to build a station there," said Matlaw.
"I know firsthand how a lack of fast, safe affordable transit options have affected us, in a very real dollars-and-cents way," wrote Sara Rowley, a school teacher and another volunteer with SASA, in an email to Streetsblog. Rowley said she's seen how her students and their families have suffered because of the high cost of car ownership and the lack of viable transit options.
Adding a new BART station may sound like transit "pie in the sky," but Matlaw said it is being considered as part of the planning process for the Link21 project, a multi-billion dollar effort to greatly expand transit throughout the region. "I think the most encouraging news we heard recently is that Link21 has stated publicly [that a] San Antonio station will still be considered as an infill priority," wrote Rowley.
The San Antonio station, if built in conjunction with a pedestrian bridge across I-880, would also be within walking distance of the massive Brooklyn Basin housing development, which currently has no transit access. Such a bridge "would also help reconnect East Oakland with the water," said Matlaw.
How much would it cost? Matlaw compares it to the Irvington station in Fremont, a planned infill station that will be between Fremont BART Station and the Warm Springs/South Fremont BART Station. That looks as if it will cost something north of $120 million (a rounding error compared to some of the big-ticket items being considered as part of Link21, such as a second Transbay crossing).
Matlaw points out that BART was built in the 1970s primarily to shuttle commuters between far-flung suburbs and downtown San Francisco. Historically Black and brown communities in between, as in neighborhoods such as San Antonio, were often bypassed. And although he supports BART extensions, such as the one to San Jose, he said the agency needs to prioritize historically underserved communities that were skipped over. "Let's put our money where our mouth is in terms of equity."
More from the group's petition page:
Establishing a BART station at 14th Avenue holds immense promise for addressing critical issues in community safety and economic vitality. Despite a rich business history, our community struggles with constant crime and frequent store closures due to a lack of foot traffic. The station's potential to bring foot traffic back to the neighborhood is significant, with the potential to not only revitalize struggling businesses but also contribute to enhanced safety through increased community vigilance. Additionally, the station's strategic location at 14th Avenue and E 12th Street opens avenues for the transformation of underutilized spaces into vibrant areas, which could create a new neighborhood "downtown," facilitating the success of existing and new businesses alike. The inclusion of a pedestrian bridge over the I-880 freeway connecting to Brooklyn Basin would ensure the integration of this new community with the rest of the neighborhood, connecting residents to existing small businesses and providing them with a convenient and sustainable transportation option.
"It's great to build transportation and development in Antioch, Tracy, and Berryessa," said Matlaw. "But let's focus first on the urban areas that are already dense and keep people in the city."
Of course, there are other potential urban-infill BART stations that get talked about, such as the proposed 30th Street station on Mission in San Francisco. And an elevated station over Solano Avenue in Albany might also make sense. Readers are encouraged to share their thoughts about other potential infill station locations in the comments section below.
For more, check out coverage in The Oaklandside
