BART administrators have recommended awarding a $492 million contract for the construction of a tram link between the Coliseum BART station and the Oakland Airport to a joint venture of Flatiron West Inc. and the Parsons Transportation Group. The board was said to be weighing the contract award for this cable-propelled tram at their meeting this morning.

As the Oakland Tribune notes, the project has some supporters who believe this tram is a missing link in our regional transit system, but "critics call the project a flashy, high-tech boondoggle that would perform no better than a much cheaper proposed express bus system." But we're pretty sure this decision is going to ride on the fact that there are some stimulus funds that need to be used before they expire, and to BART this looks like as good a job-creating project as any. We, personally, would rather they spend the money to make BART run 24 hours like in a real city, thereby making the East Bay more of a realistic living choice for the hard-partying and carless, but that's just us.