The BART station opened in 1972, serving the then-new Oakland Coliseum and the surrounding neighborhood. The Amtrak platform was added in 2005, making it one of two transfer points between BART and Amtrak. In 2014, the complex became the terminus of the Oakland Airport Connector, providing a rail connection to Oakland International Airport. The station also serves as a transfer point for AC Transit buses and business park shuttles.
History
A Capitol Corridor train at Oakland Coliseum in November 2017Aerial view of the station complex
BART
Original plans in 1960 for the BART system called for a station at 77th Avenue.[10] Around 1963, the planned station was relocated slightly north to 73rd Avenue to better serve the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum/Coliseum Arena sports complex, which opened in 1966.[11] By August 1965, the city's preferred name for the station was "Coliseum–73rd Ave".[12] In October 1965, a BART committee suggested the simpler Coliseum, which was approved that December.[13][14] The station opened as part of the first segment of the BART system (MacArthur–Fremont) on September 11, 1972.[15] It did not originally have an elevator between the platform and fare lobby; construction of the elevator began in February 1973.[16][17]
It was soon connected to its namesake by a 950-foot (290 m) pedestrian bridge over San Leandro Street and the Union Pacific Railroad'sright-of-way located adjacent to the sports complex.[18] The bridge initially opened for a brief period in October 1974 for the American League playoffs and the 1974 World Series; it closed on October 18 due to excessive swaying.[19][20] The footbridge reopened in October 1975.[21]AirBART bus service to Oakland International Airport began on July 1, 1977, and the station was renamed Coliseum/Oakland Airport to reflect the new connection to the airport.[22]
Amtrak
Amtrak's long-distance Coast Starlight service has used the Union Pacific right-of-way since its inception in 1971, but served only the main downtown stops in Oakland: 16th Street station until 1994, then Oakland–Jack London Square station from 1995 on. Capitols (later Capitol Corridor) service began in 1991; Oakland Coliseum was among the stations proposed in 1990 for the new service.[1][23] In 2002, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA), in conjunction with Caltrans and the City of Oakland, decided to build a Capitol Corridor station at Oakland Coliseum.[1] The new $6.6 million Oakland Coliseum station opened on June 6, 2005; it included a newly built accessible connection to the original BART-Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum pedestrian bridge, facilitating a grade separated transfer between the Capitol Corridor and BART.[1][24]
Oakland Airport Connector
BART considered plans for a rail link to Oakland International Airport as early as 1970, including a bi-directional loop off the main line, but no significant progress was made until the early 1990s.[25][26] In 2009, the Oakland City Council approved the construction of the Oakland Airport Connector, a 3.2-mile (5.1 km) automated guideway transit line. Construction on the line began in October 2010; it was renamed the Coliseum-Oakland International Airport line by BART.[27][26] The line's Coliseum station opened on November 21, 2014, along with the rest of the line. AirBART bus service between the station and the airport was discontinued. The name of the conventional BART station was changed back to Coliseum, allowing the terminus station at the airport to be named as Oakland International Airport station.[28][29]
In the early 2000s, planning began for transit-oriented development to replace a station parking lot. The Coliseum Connections project, a modular structure with 110 mixed-income units on a 1.3-acre (0.53 ha) site, was constructed from November 2017 to April 4, 2019. The developers of the project lease the site from BART.[30][31] In August 2020, a mural by seven Oakland Unified School District students was completed in the pedestrian tunnel.[32] Thirteen BART stations, including Coliseum, did not originally have faregates for passengers using the elevator. In 2020, BART started a project to add faregates to elevators at these stations. The new faregate in the BART lobby at Coliseum was installed in August 2020.[33]
Station layout
The pedestrian bridge connects the sports venues to the Amtrak station (shown) and BART station
Amtrak station
The Amtrak station is an unstaffed grade-level station located at the western end of the 73rd Avenue cul-de-sac. The station has few amenities other than benches sheltered by open-air canopies.[1] A QuikTrakticket machine that was previously located at the station was removed due to vandalism issues.[34] The Union Pacific Railroad (UP) Niles Subdivision has three tracks at the station — two mainline tracks used by Union Pacific freight trains (and the Coast Starlight), and a siding track with a single side platform on the northeast side serving Capitol Corridor trains.[3] Oakland Coliseum is primarily served by through trains between Sacramento and San Jose, but also functions as a terminal for some Capitol Corridor service traveling to/from Sacramento. An accessible ramp structure connects the platform to the pedestrian bridge.[35]
The BART station is an elevated three-level structure. Fare control and concessions are located on the ground level, east of San Leandro Street, underneath the northern end of the platform.[35] Conventional BART trains serve an island platform on the elevated second level. The grade-level UP Oakland Subdivision runs parallel to BART on the east side of the station, separating it from the adjacent Coliseum neighborhood.[36] An accessible pedestrian underpass tunnel with a stairlift runs underneath the Union Pacific right-of-way and connects the fare control area with the parking area and Snell Street.[35][37] A taxi stand is located along the western side of San Leandro Street just north of 71st Avenue, with a secondary taxi loading zone also located along the eastern side of Snell Street near the bicycle locker area.
The Beige Line station is located on the third level of the Oakland Coliseum station complex. It has one track serving one side platform. It has no direct non-emergency street access and can only be reached from the main BART platform.[35] Unlike conventional BART stations, platform screen doors provide a barrier between the platform and the guideway of the driverless system. The fare for the line is charged at Coliseum station for travel in both directions.[38] The walls of the platform area feature an artwork titled A-Round Oakland by Gordon Huether. The $300,000 artwork consists of around 50 colorful dichroic glass circles ranging from 18–36 inches (460–910 mm) in diameter.[39]
In addition, several fare-free local shuttle routes stop at the BART passenger loading zone on the southeastern corner of San Leandro Street and 71st Avenue.[35] These include the Alameda CountyEast Oakland Shuttle, which connects the station with county offices at Eastmont Town Center, Edgewater Drive, and Enterprise Way, as well as shuttle buses serving the nearby Harbor Bay Business Park.[41][42][43]
AC Transit: 45, 46L, 73, 90, 98, 646, 657, 805
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