Vasco Road (California)

Vasco Road is an unnumbered highway that connects Livermore, California and Brentwood, California. Although it is not part of the California State Highway system, it is the principal north-south commuter route serving eastern Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. The two counties are each responsible for maintaining the portion of the road within their boundaries. The traffic count in 2008 was estimated at more than 25,000 vehicles per day. Weekend traffic is also heavy in spring and summer, when residents from other parts of California flock to the recreation areas along the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta.

History

Originally, Vasco Road was a two-lane, very narrow highway that began at U. S. Highway 50 (now Interstate 580) and wound over the Diablo Range and through the Kellogg Creek valley. In 1957, Alameda County linked three other streets inside Livermore to extend Vasco to Tesla Road. A ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the new Vasco Road on August 1, 1958.

Booming population growth caused a sharp increase in housing prices throughout the Bay Area. People working in Silicon Valley and the Tri-Valley areas began moving into the relatively undeveloped East County area of Contra Costa County. By the early 1990s, traffic congestion on Vasco Road had become severe and accidents were frequent.

Vasco Road station

Vasco Road is an ACE station on Vasco Road in eastern Livermore, California.

Service

The station mainly serves the workers of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory and the surrounding industrial and office parks in eastern Livermore in addition to commuters from Livermore headed to job centers in the Silicon Valley to the southwest.

The station is served by commuter Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) trains between San Jose Diridon Station and Stockton. Tri-Valley WHEELS lines 11, 16, and 20X currently serve this location. In the future, express commuter buses (RTD, MAX, Manteca Transit, Tri-Delta Transit, Stanislaus Transit, and Tracer) currently serving the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station may stop at, be truncated to, or extend services to this station.

BART has approved an alignment for its Livermore extension to run along I-580 then tunnel underneath Isabel Avenue to the Livermore ACE station and then continue along the right-of-way to Vasco Road to serve as its final terminal. However, in July 2011, the Livermore City Council reversed its position in response to a petition requesting that the alignment stay within or nearby the Interstate 580 right-of-way, and now favors stations be built at the Interstate 580 interchanges with Isabel Avenue and Greenville Road.