Planning the Oakland Airport Connector Alignment to Enhance Passenger Service

This paper presents efforts by the Port of Oakland (Port) to integrate an Automated People Mover (APM) named the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) into plans to expand the airport's terminal area facilities. The OAC would connect the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Coliseum station with the passenger terminals at Oakland International Airport. As a result of the Port's refinement of its Terminal Expansion (TEx) program, which included relocation of the planned garage and revised passenger terminal concepts, the planned airport station for the OAC project was relocated to adequately serve projected passenger flows. The Port retained Jakes Associates, Inc. to assist with recommendations for rapid and affordable implementation on airport property which includes alignment development activities. In cooperation with the Port, Jakes Associates, Inc. developed several alternative alignments for consideration that are characterized by varying levels of service and guideway approaches towards the terminal. Several of these alignments have been presented to BART, which is the Port's partner for this project. As of the time of this paper, the final selection of the airport station alignment remains open. Full project funding is not in place yet, giving the Port an additional opportunity to revisit all terminal and garage implementation options.