In preparation for construction of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project, VTA’s tunnel and trackwork contractor, Kiewit Shea Traylor (KST), developed a Construction Transportation Management Plan (CTMP). The plan, the first of several to be developed, is specifically for early construction activities at VTA’s Newhall Yard property, where the tunnel boring machine will be launched (an area referred to as the west tunnel portal) and the location of the future Santa Clara Station. The purpose of this plan is to coordinate automobile, transit, bicycle and pedestrian movements, truck hauling, general and emergency access and reduce transportation impacts to the extent feasible during construction at and around the work site. The CTMP was developed in coordination with the cities of San José and Santa Clara and the BSVII Project Team, along with adjacent businesses and residents. Project staff also engaged the community to provide input at public and virtual meetings in March 2023.
The main purpose of early construction activities at the Newhall Yard property is to prepare the site for the launch of the tunnel boring machine at the west tunnel portal. The west tunnel portal will be excavated and supported with reinforced concrete walls to create space for assembling and launching the tunnel boring machine. Other early construction activities will include the construction of site entrances, a tunnel lining factory where tunnel lining segments will be constructed and stored before being placed in the tunnel, a grout plant to produce grout to seal the tunnel lining segments together, the excavated materials bin to store excavated materials until hauled offsite to be repurposed or disposed of and a noise curtain along the west side of the site to reduce noise from construction activities, among other activities.
Early construction activities are necessary to prepare the site for tunneling operations and are anticipated to begin as early as late summer 2023.
