Feds deny BART $70M for Oakland airport connector, say agency won’t meet study deadline

Feds deny BART $70M for Oakland airport connector

OAKLAND, Calif. — Federal officials have denied San Francisco Bay Area’s commuter rail system $70 million in funding for a planned extension to the Oakland International Airport.

The Federal Transit Administration said in a letter Friday that Bay Area Rapid Transit officials could not possibly meet deadlines for a required study of the extension’s potential impact on minority residents.

BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger accused opponents of the project of using federal civil rights laws to stop the project at the cost of thousands of jobs.

Critics say money for the $492 million project would be better spent on preserving existing public transit service for low-income and minority Oakland residents.

Federal officials urged the commission that oversees BART to reallocate the money to the Bay Area’s struggling transit agencies.