Proposed Bay Area transit map includes second BART crossing between SF and Oakland

The future of Bay Area transit may include a second transbay BART line and an intercity train line from Sacramento to San Francisco, according to a new projected map released Wednesday.

The report, from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, reimagines how people will get around the Bay Area "megaregion" that consists of 21 counties in Northern California.

The idea of a second BART line connecting San Francisco and the rest of the bay has been a dream for planners, residents and commuters for years.

In 2018 BART's Twitter account even posted an artist's rendering of a train running under cars on the Golden Gate Bridge, prompting much excitement, hot takes and bewilderment from Twitter users (some residents in Marin, a county that rejected BART in the '60s, were not overjoyed at the idea.)

The new project, announced this week — titled Link21 in reference to the 21 counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey area, greater Sacramento area and Northern San Joaquin Valley — is ambitious, and will require years of work and billions of dollars to become a reality.

At its heart is the new transbay rail crossing between Oakland and San Francisco.

"The new crossing will increase capacity for the overcrowded corridor and will bring new passenger rail connections and services to the Megaregion, including potential for a direct, one-seat ride between Sacramento and San Francisco," read a BART statement released Wednesday.

“As we continue to offer vital services to our passengers during these challenging times, we are also looking ahead to the future” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “Link21 will connect passengers to the places they want to go throughout the Megaregion.”

A second transbay tube or other rail corridor, the Link21 program argues, would reduce crowding on BART and other rail transit services in the "megaregion," reduce pollution from single-occupancy vehicles and cut down commute times for residents who live several counties away from their place of work.

Roughly 12.2 million people currently live in the Northern California region, a population that is expected to balloon to 16 million by 2050 when the project is slated to be complete.

The Bay City News Service contributed to this report.