=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2003/04= /18/MN89853.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, April 18, 2003 (SF Chronicle) BART to link to SFO June 22/After many delays, latest date is firm, transit= officials say Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer The mystery that has vexed Bay Area residents and visitors alike for months, even years, has finally been answered. June 22 is the day that BART's extension to San Francisco International Airport will open to the public. After decades of planning, months of delays and a couple of squashed endangered garter snakes, BART officials -- joined by a passel of politicians - - announced the opening date Thursday by pulling a sheet off a sign reading: "BART to SFO . . . BART to the world, June 22, 2003." "It has taken about 47 years to get to this point," said Pete Snyder, president of the BART Board of Directors, referring to a 1956 study that recommended construction of BART with a link to the airport. "But when that first train glides into the airport, it will have been worth the wait." This is not the first time BART officials have given a projected opening date for the 8.7-mile, four-station SFO extension, though it is the most specific. When BART broke ground in November 1997, officials predicted that the first train would roll down the Peninsula from Colma and into SFO's international terminal by the end of 2001. But weather -- and the endangered snakes that were crushed at a construction site -- forced BART to push the starting date back to late fall 2002. Then in July of last year, BART officials admitted they wouldn't be able to open in time for the holidays and predicted a January start. In early January, they backed off that promise and refused to do any more speculating until contractor Tutor-Saliba/Slattery completed the project and handed it over to BART for final testing. That finally happened Monday -- and BART officials set the opening date. "It's not going to change again, is it?" joked San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, as he arrived at an Embarcadero station ceremony to announce the opening date. "You guys keep changing the date." BART officials assured the mayor he would be able to ride a train into S= FO on June 22 -- the second day of summer. "We're sure the opening date is going to stick," said Tom Margro, BART's general manager. 8 WEEKS OF TESTING While the contractors have tested the components of the extension, BART will now begin about eight weeks of comprehensive testing, running trains from other parts of the system onto the extension as if it were in service. "We'll be running trains, we'll have people out there in (station agent) booths, we'll be making sure everybody knows where everything is," Margro said. The official opening day -- a Sunday -- will be preceded by a couple of celebratory openings: a private reception on June 20 and a public ceremony on June 21. "This will be not only a benefit to tourists and visitors to our city but to residents of the Bay Area who will be able to hop on a train and get to the airport," said James Fang, a BART director who said he'd pushed for the SFO extension since joining the board in 1990. 4 NEW STATIONS While everyone refers to the extension as the SFO extension, the airport is just one of four stations. Heading south from Colma, trains will stop in South San Francisco and San Bruno, with some heading straight to the airport and others heading to Millbrae, a major transit hub where BART will share a station with Caltrain. A shuttle train will carry passengers between Millbrae and the airport. Trains on the Dublin/Pleasanton line will serve SFO directly, with Pittsburg/Bay Point line trains heading to Millbrae. But Margro said some Pittsburg/Bay Point trains might be scheduled for direct trips to and from SFO. Passengers on other lines would need to either transfer to a direct train to get to the airport or catch the shuttle train in Millbrae. "The opening of the extension means you can go from home to Rome, or any other destination in the world," said San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin, who worked to bring BART into his county. "And BART is our connection to the world." E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 SF Chronicle