Alongside the $750 million award for Caltrain’s downtown extension, Governor Gavin Newsom’s Nov. 10 transit announcement included several other Bay Area and Central Coast projects, the governor’s office said. The official Cycle 8 project list assigns $30 million to the Newark–Albrae siding project, $25 million to BART’s Ashby station, $24.84 million to Marin Transit and $28.967 million to Santa Cruz Metro.
Why it matters: The Newark–Albrae work in Newark and Fremont would add a second mainline track to remove a single-track bottleneck on the Union Pacific corridor and, the state said, help unlock a planned 2031 ACE expansion, including a fifth daily round trip between Stockton and San José.
The $25 million Ashby award would support transit-oriented development on the west parking lot at BART’s Ashby station in Berkeley, including cutting existing station parking by more than 80%, a new garage with 16 EV chargers, pedestrian and bicycle improvements, and a new station entrance plaza, according to the project summary. Marin Transit would use $24.84 million to electrify a new 3.5-acre operations yard at 1075 Francisco Boulevard East in San Rafael and buy 11 electric buses, consolidating work now spread across five leased sites.
Santa Cruz Metro was awarded $28.967 million toward a South County bus operations and maintenance facility and service and access improvements, the state list shows. The governor’s office also said the awards would improve transit access at Ashby station, add a second main track through Fremont and Newark for ACE, and support transit facility work in Santa Cruz County. Related: the $750 million Portal award.