The Valley Link project has been awarded $25 million by the state.

The goal is to have the 42-mile, seven-station rail connector between BART and ACE up and running by 2028.

“The Valley Link Rail Project is a critical development for the future of clean and efficient transportation around Northern California,” said Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua, D-Stockton.

“Since coming into office, I’ve been working to help bring funds from the state towards this important regional project. I am grateful for this investment that will significantly reduce emissions and commute time for our workers to get home to their families.”

 The California State Transportation Agency on Monday announced $25 million award to the Tri-Valley – San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority for the Valley Link Rail Project.

It will help cover the cost of critical planning to keep the project moving forward.

The Alameda County Transportation Commission has shifted $400 million in 2013 Measure BB sales tax funds — that county’s equivalent of San Joaquin County’s Measure K — from the long-promised BART to Livermore extension.

That funding will go toward Valley Link’s first phase — the 26-mile section from the Pleasanton BART station to the proposed Mountain House station.

The overall project is expected to cost $3.6 billion.

Over 105,000 people commute from the Central Valley over the Altamont Pass to work in the larger Bay Area region

A recent study indicates over 20 percent of San Joaquin County residents commute 15 miles or more each day. This creates a highly congested traveling corridor along Interstate 580

 Valley Link will be extended from Mountain House to the proposed North Lathrop transfer station on Sharpe Depot land for the Altamont Corridor Express with stations in Tracy and River Islands at Lathrop as well. That ACE transfer station will be accessed from Lathrop Road literally less than a mile from Manteca’s western city limits.

The first phase is targeted to start work in 2025 with the connection to North Lathrop shortly thereafter depending upon funding.

The move to make the ACE-BART connection in Lathrop is the linchpin of an effort to create a rail transit network connecting Merced, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, Manteca, Lathrop, Ripon, River Islands, Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, and Elk Grove  along with other communities along the ACE, BART and Valley Link systems is the Union Pacific Railroad’s Lathrop Wye.

It also will close what is seen as a critical gap in the statewide rail system.

By connecting BART and ACE Valley Link. riders will be able to transfer to other rail systems.

It will tie together nearly 500 miles of passenger rail with more than 130 stations in the Northern California megaregion anchored by San Francisco, San Jose,  Oakland, and Sacramento.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com