Three to Get Ready: A Progress Report from BART (1967)

it's construction maybe you've watched some market street digging seen the completed albany aerials been inconvenienced in downtown oakland or on shattuck avenue in berkeley [Music] past orinda crossroads and figured all those bulldozers were just leveling another hillside for another freeway but whatever you've seen or bypassed or wondered about you've only seen a small part of a 75 mile system now being built in three counties we want you to see some facts about your new interurban rapid transit system not just read about it so watch and we'll keep quiet most of the time first let's take a look from the air the completed albany aerial structures part of the richmond berkeley line the same type of aerials under construction in hayward a section of the fremont oakland line and incidentally even as you watch this film all the construction you're looking at has progressed what you're seeing is how it looked the day we filmed it and the day our camera saw this was several months ago entrance to the downtown oakland subway [Applause] [Music] lake merit title outfall [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] up broadway in the crossover to the berkeley and contra costa lines [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] now let's look more closely first getting ready for the trans bay tube linking oakland in san francisco which will enter the bay at the site of the oakland mall cross under the bridge and enter the market street subway under the fairing building [Music] pilings that mark the old ferryboat slips must be pulled up and hauled away [Music] high pressure hoses loosen dirt around the base [Music] the old san francisco wharves dating back to the time of ferry boat commuting are removed to make way for high-speed trains which will make the trip from oakland to san francisco in eight minutes [Music] the tube itself will consist of 57 sections like this one ready for launching at bethlehem shipyard [Music] [Applause] each double-barreled section is 350 feet long and weighs some 800 tons when it slides into the bay [Music] [Music] after launching the section is nudged to an outfitting dock where reinforced concrete is applied to the interior walls until its weight reaches 12 000 tons more than a world war ii liberty ship [Music] in the early morning hours when traffic is light on the bay the section is towed to the oakland side where it's slung beneath a giant catamaran barge and gently lowered into place along a shallow trench dredged across the floor of the bay hydraulic couplers lock each section to its mate they're made watertight and the process is repeated for the 57 sections and four long years while section after section of bay tube is built and launched bart's work progresses in more than a dozen sites in the three counties demolition to make way for aerial structures [Music] cut and cover in downtown oakland for the subway moving utilities and sewers for the san francisco subway but one substantial contribution to the system is being made far enough from your front door but it's no inconvenience at all the kaiser plant in napa is making steel tunnel liners for the 21 miles of subway almost one third of the total bark system first a gang part of your surface ride orinda crossroads these bulldozers were leveling a hillside for a new freeway not only relocated but widened to accommodate bart trains in the median strip it's estimated that this portion of the concord to berkeley line will save taxpayers millions of dollars because of the joint use of a narrow transportation corridor by bart and the california division of highways what about the route from morinda to berkeley over the hills where there is no transportation corridor even a narrow one the answer is through these hills we can fly from the east portal orinda side to the west portal in a few minutes it's taking two years to tunnel these hills but your bart train will make the trip in three and one half minutes [Music] so now the highlight of our get ready year breaking through from the east and west portals of the berkeley hills tunnel a bart staff member watched the breakthrough and he reports thursday february 23rd 1967 11 pm word goes out tunnel will hold through sometime during the graveyard shift friday february 24th to 10 a.m deafening din as jumbo red crew drills holes in face for first of what was to be three blasts during the shift 2 30 a.m during a pause speculation on part of the miners as to who will win the 300 pool predicting exact minute of breakthrough sixty men five dollars a piece dynamite set off in small charges for safety of both crews working so close together told it be a long night four am muck crew cleans up face from last blast discouraging report tunnelers have to install two more tunnel rings before another blast 6 am exciting news tunnelers have opened a three foot long shaft of the drill and can talk to the orinda crew furious work with pry rods enlarges holes the size of a football and last blast neatly opens entire top of the face both crews move sharply to shore up ceiling and then after 446 days of working opposite each other exchange places in their own type of ceremony saturday february 25th 10 a.m alameda and contra costa county officials bart directors engineers members of the press don yellow slickers to take the first ride all the way through the fourth longest vehicular tunnel in the united states and meet in a modest ceremony deep in the berkeley hills marking the holing through and when your bart train emerges from the berkeley hills tunnel it will glide along another medium strip that of the grove shafter freeway so-called missing link in the bay area's highway system bart trains will enter the downtown oakland subway from the grove shafter freeway media and you'll enter the same subway from southern alameda county at eighth and fallon streets a few blocks from bart's headquarters building an automatic train control complex nerve center for the computerized 75-mile network work started on this subway in late fall 1965. a year ago this section of the subway had progressed this far [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] today the structure is ready for tracks trains and ultimately you [Music] what will the aerials really look like completed and landscaped like this the four and one half mile test track between concord and walnut creek [Music] [Applause] [Music] we can't show you the market street subway yet but if you don't like temporary detours traffic jams and gaping holes wait construction of the downtown oakland subway makes a few detours seem like a picnic and berkeley pedestrians and motorists are already living with huge excavations as general manager br stokes told the commonwealth club in april 1967 the next two years or so will be years of travail of digging dirt of erecting steel of pouring concrete i pledge that everyone associated with the district will do his level best to deliver this system to you as nearly on schedule as is humanly possible we've said that it will be the finest in the world we promise you it will be no less than that [Music] today more than half the 75 mile system is under construction but tomorrow next month next year as heavy construction increases you'll find more detours not fewer more blocked off traffic lanes and excavations all of which are necessary inconveniences but happily temporary so when you see this or this or this remember this daily reality of inconvenience is all part of getting ready getting ready to bring you the speed the safety the comfort and convenience and the economy of the world's newest inter-urban rapid transit system [Music] [Applause] [Music]