San Bruno B.A.R.T.

This is one in an occasional series of articles about construction of the BART extension from Colma to Millbrae and San Francisco International Airport.

SAN BRUNO -- With construction crews bearing down on the heart of San Bruno, city officials are close to a deal to reduce the time it takes to push BART's Peninsula extension project through the city.

BART's contractor is almost finished digging a tunnel that will carry the line from the end of the existing tracks in Colma to the Tanforan shopping center in San Bruno.

Now those workers, who will bring the line to San Francisco International Airport and Millbrae, are close to the critical coordinates where San Bruno Avenue, San Mateo Avenue and Huntington Avenue intersect.

It's a crucial connection linking Highway 101 with El Camino Real, San Bruno's downtown and the popular Artichoke Joe's cardroom.

"Everyone has come to the conclusion that getting BART in and out of there as quickly as possible is the best thing to do," said BART spokesman Dave Madden.

The agreement hasn't been finalized yet, Madden said. But the parties to the deal, which involves BART, San Bruno city, Caltrain, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (which owns BART's future right of way) and Artichoke Joe's cardroom, have agreed in principle, he said.

The final contract, which includes a deal to build a new city police station at San Bruno's BART station, is expected by the end of the month, said George Foscardo, San Bruno's economic development director.

"This would allow them to go through all at once, get them through faster and get them out of the way as quickly as possible," he said.

BART's original San Bruno plan called for a "phased" approach to construction, Madden said.

Construction crews were to work on one short segment at a time. They would excavate the tunnel, pour the concrete for the walls and floors, and completely cover the tunnel before moving on to the next segment.

Now the tunnel through San Bruno will be built the same way BART is building the rest of the extension.

One team of workers will excavate the tunnel, and another will follow later to pour the concrete for the walls and railbed, to be followed finally by another crew that will cover over the completed tunnel.

It means more disruption for San Bruno during construction, for a much shorter time.

"We can cut it from 18 months to about six," Madden said.

"We should have the least time possible for disruption and hopefully have everything back together by Christmas," Foscardo said.

Foscardo and Madden said the original phased approach was negotiated by Artichoke Joe's cardroom, a busy, 24-hour-a-day operation in San Bruno.

The cardroom leases parking spaces along Huntington Avenue on BART's planned right-of-way, and didn't want to lose them all at once, Foscardo said.

But the cardroom is creating alternate entrances to its main parking lot from two other streets, so disruption on Huntington is less of an issue.

"He's (Artichoke Joe's) realizing the longer we're at it, the harder it is for everyone," Madden said.

Not every business on Huntington Avenue has been consulted in the planning process.

The Railroad Cafe is located in a mini-plaza at the corner of Huntington and San Mateo Avenue, and owner Bashir Khoury says it's been months since he's heard from the city or BART.

He's worried that Huntington Avenue will close.

"If they close the street, of course it's going to affect our business," he said. "Our bread and butter is on that street."

Madden says the street will remain open; Foscardo says it may close farther to the south of Khoury's location.

At San Bruno Lumber, which sits on the corner of San Bruno and San Mateo avenues, owner Al Stockton praised the communication from BART and the city.

"They've been very responsive to us and informative in sharing what information you expect to get," he said. "I'm as pleased with that as I could expect to be."

The city has created a subcommittee with representatives from each area affected by construction, Foscardo said, with the expectation that its members will dispense information.

"Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't," he said.

But Foscardo is confident that BART construction will cause little disruption to traffic when it reaches busy San Bruno and San Mateo avenues.

Madden said there may be some lane closures when the time comes to dig the BART tunnel under those streets.

Once the tunnel trench is dug, contractors will install a temporary bridge deck to carry the streets over the worksite, Madden said.

Traffic disruption isn't the only concern BART construction has caused for some San Bruno residents.

Community activist Alice Barnes, who heads the organization San Bruno Belle Air Residents for Truth (or San Bruno B.A.R.T.), says she has documented a dozen safety oversights by contractor Tutor-Saliba that could have put residents at risk.

"Tutor-Saliba is running what we consider an unsafe operation," Barnes said.

At one point, Barnes said, her son was able to walk right to the edge of the hole where the San Bruno station is being built, and take a photo.

BART's Madden says all the incidents Barnes points to aren't equal.

"Alice tends to escalate the seriousness of everything to the same level and I don't think that's the case," he said. "There have been things that are serious and there are things we don't consider that serious."

After Barnes complained, Tutor-Saliba erected a fence around the station construction site.

"We have a lot of safety personnel in the field," Madden said. "When we see something wrong, we fix it."

The most prominent problem in San Bruno halted construction of the San Bruno BART station for more than two months, after cracks appeared in the neighboring Tanforan shopping center parking garage.

Construction resumed in September after the contractor stabilized the soil next to the garage, and workers have made a great deal of progress without further problems, Madden said.

Though Barnes said BART and Tutor-Saliba responded to problems she pointed out, she doesn't think that's good enough.

"They shouldn't be having problems in the first place," she said.

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