BART riders on the Antioch-Millbrae line can also expect long delays getting through Contra Costa County.
On the six weekends where tracks will be completely shut down, no trains will run between the Orinda and Walnut Creek stations. BART will provide buses between those points -- but the buses from Orinda will be forced to go through whatever traffic jam forms on eastbound Highway 24.
"The buses are free, but they're going to get stuck in traffic," Filippi said. "When we've done past track shutdowns, we've told folks on BART to expect delays of about 20 minutes. But in this case we're more than doubling it — we're going to 40 minutes and telling people that it could even go above that, to 40 minutes or more."
BART says the six weekends on which the tracks will be completely shut down are:
- This weekend, Aug. 17-18
- Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31-Sept. 2
- Sept. 14-15
- Sept. 28-29
- Oct. 12-13
- Oct. 26-27
On each shutdown weekend, BART plans to begin work and close two eastbound Highway 24 lanes at 11 p.m. on Friday evenings. The two lanes — the No. 1 and 2 lanes, or those on the left of the roadway — will remain closed until Monday mornings, when one lane will reopen at 6 a.m. and the second at 7 a.m.
The project will also affect Highway 24 traffic and BART service on four other weekends, with the agency single-tracking trains on four upcoming Saturdays: Aug. 24, Sept. 7, Sept. 21 and Oct. 19. Overnight shutdowns of two of the freeway's eastbound lanes will occur on those dates, too, running from 11 p.m. on Friday evenings to 7 a.m. Saturday mornings and 11 p.m. Saturday evenings through 9 a.m. Sunday mornings.
BART is paying for the work with funds from 2016's $3.5 Measure RR. That $3.5 billion measure will also pay for the next round of BART track replacement, scheduled sometime next year near the Orinda Station.