BART releases final environmental documents for slope repairs at Castro Valley and Concord
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) is proposing the BART Slope Stabilization Project (Project) along BART’s alignment to perform maintenance on damaged abutment joints, drainage systems, and eroded slopes, reducing long-term risk to passengers, employees, and property. Abutments are concrete structures that support the two ends of a bridge where it passes over a roadway or body of water. The Slope Stabilization Project consists of slope stabilization and abutment rehabilitation at two sites in Concord and three sites in Castro Valley. It is part of a larger program to repair eroded slopes at bridge abutments and embankments systemwide.
Before the Project can be approved and repairs can begin, BART must first prepare an environmental analysis of the Project to understand the potential environmental impacts of its implementation. This analysis is required by the California Environmental Quality Act, which was enacted to provide full disclosure of a Project’s impacts on the physical environment (e.g., air quality, biological resources, historical resources, noise, transportation, etc) and to identify ways to lessen “significant” (or substantially adverse) impacts. BART prepared an “Initial Study” to evaluate the Project’s effects.
The Initial Study shows that for most of the resources required to be analyzed, the Project would either have no impact or less-than-significant impacts. However, the Project would have the potential for significant impacts on biological resources, cultural resources, and hazardous material if no “mitigation measures” were identified and adopted. The Initial Study outlines the mitigation measures to be adopted by BART to avoid or substantially reduce these impacts to a less-than-significant level.
Public Review for Draft IS/MND (July 8, 2022 to August 12, 2022)
The IS/MND was published as a draft document for public review on July 8, 2022. The report was made available on this website. In addition, two virtual meetings were held for the public to learn about the project, the physical effects of the project on the environment, and how to offer comments on the draft document. One meeting was held on August 3 for the Castro Valley repair sites and a second meeting was held on August 4 for the Concord repair sites. To notify the public about the availability of the report and the public review period notices were posted at the County offices in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, mailings were sent to the properties in the vicinity of the project sites, and email alerts were sent to local stakeholders. The public review period began on July 8 and concluded on August 12.
Final IS/MND to the BART Board (October 13, 2022)
BART anticipates the Final IS/MND will be considered for action by the BART Board of Directors at its October 13, 2022 meeting. The MND must be adopted before any work can begin at the project sites. This final version of the report differs from the Draft IS/MND in three respects: (1) Introduction section includes an overview to the draft and final documents and the public review process; (2) a new appendix (Appendix B) has been added that contains all written and verbal comments received on the draft report during the public review period and responses to those comments; and (3) a new appendix (Appendix C) has been incorporated that contains all text revisions to the Draft IS/MND as a result of public comments and BART staff-initiated changes.
In addition, copies of the Final IS/MND are available at the following libraries in Concord and Castro Valley:
- Concord Library, 2900 Salvio Street, Concord
- Castro Valley Library, 3600 Norbridge Avenue, Castro Valley
A Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Plan (MMRP) was developed to ensure that the mitigation measures identified in the IS/MND will be implemented. The BART Board will consider the MMRP at the same time it considers the Final IS/MND.