Rockridge BART Station

Rockridge is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, California that sits between opposing traffic lanes on State Route 24. This station’s single platform serves a track on each side, and started service in 1973.

However, the story of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system and its stations started nearly 30 years earlier. After World War II, post-war migration to California paired with an automobile boom caused civic leaders to call for a transportation solution that would alleviate congestion and connect San Francisco to Oakland.

In 1951, the State Legislature created the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission – made up  of representatives from the nine counties surrounding the Bay. Tasked with studying the Bay Area’s long range transportation needs and related environmental factors, the commission was responsible for finding the best transportation solution.

The Rapid Transit Commission recommended forming a five-county rapid transit district to build and operate a high-speed rail network linking major commercial centers with the surrounding suburbs. This network eventually became the Bay Area Rapid Transit.

Construction began on the Oakland subway in January 1966. Later that year, 57 giant steel and concrete sections of the 3.8-mile transbay tube were lowered to the bottom of the Bay. This 3.2-mile bore-hole through the hard rock of the Berkeley Hills was soon completed, and became the fourth-longest vehicular tunnel in the U.S.

Today, the Rockridge BART Station serves approximately 6,100 passengers daily between the MacArthur and Orinda stations.