The Metropolitan Transportation Commission on Wednesday allocated $19 million in Bay Area bridge toll money toward the $463 million eBART rail extension in Pittsburg and Antioch.
The money will be used to enlarge the Highway 4 median in a section of Antioch so it is wide enough to accommodate the eBART line. EBART will use diesel trains that are narrower and less expensive than the electric BART trains.
Some construction began in October on a 10-mile section of eBART, which is expected to open in 2015. EBART will stretch from the existing Bay Point-Pittsburg BART station to a new station at Hillcrest Avenue in Antioch, with an intermediate station on Railroad Avenue in Pittsburg.
Under a 2001 state law, Assembly Bill 1171, a portion of money from a $1 bridge toll increase in 1998 can be used to make transportation improvements in travel corridors leading up to Bay Area bridges.
