Walnut Creek station

Walnut Creek station is an elevated Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in Walnut Creek, California, served by the. The station is located north of downtown Walnut Creek, adjacent to Interstate 680 and near the Ygnacio Valley Road and California Boulevard arterial roads.

Station layout
The elevated BART tracks run approximately northeast–southwest through the station area. Two parking garages and a residential building are on the west side of the station; former parking lots planned for development are on the east side. Walnut Creek station has two side platforms serving the two tracks. The unpaid fare lobby is located under the center of the platform. The paid lobby is to the north, with escalators and stairs to the platforms. Elevators to the platforms and bike storage are to the south.

Walnut Creek is a transfer point for a number of County Connection local and express routes:
 * Weekday: 1, 4, 5, 9, 14, 21, 93X, 95X, 96X, 98X
 * Weekend: 4, 301, 311, 321

The station is also served by several regional routes: the SolTrans Solano Express Yellow Line and Blue Line, and WHEELS route 70X. All buses stop in the busway inside the south garage.

History
The BART Board approved the name "Walnut Creek" in December 1965. Walnut Creek station opened on May 21, 1973 as part of an extension from MacArthur to Concord. The city of Walnut Creek began operating a shuttle service between the station and the downtown area on December 12, 1974. It was taken over by the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority (County Connection) on July 1, 1980.

BART released a plan in 2004 that called for changes to the station and surrounding area. To accommodate increased ridership, a new south paid lobby was to be added, with new escalators and stairs to the platforms. The existing paid area would be enlarged with new elevators added, and the platforms would be widened. Seismic retrofitting of the parking garage took place in 2009–2010. BART released conceptual modernization plans, which largely followed the recommendations of the 2004 plan, in May 2019.

Thirteen BART stations, including Walnut Creek, 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 faregates at Walnut Creek were installed in September 2022.

Development
Walnut Creek station was originally intended to serve the surrounding low-density suburban neighborhoods. The opening of the station prompted commercial and office developments in Walnut Creek, culminating in 1985 with the ten-story buildings of the "Golden Triangle" near the station. In March 1985, city voters passed a height restriction law to reduce the amount of development.

In 2000, BART began negotiations with a developer that sought to build a transit-oriented apartment complex on the station parking lots. The 2004 station plan proposed development of the parking lots with 440 residential units, 8700 sqft of office space, 33000 sqft of retail space, and 1,373 parking spaces. The developer first submitted plans to the city in 2005; the project was indefinitely delayed in 2009 due to the Great Recession. The plans were ultimately approved by the city in October 2012, with the parking garage to be the first portion built.

A parking lot on the west side of the station closed on February 3, 2018. The 900-space south parking garage was constructed in its place, which allowed other parking lots to be closed for the new development. The new garage, which includes a three-lane bus plaza, opened on March 29, 2019. The north and east parking lots closed at that time. Construction of a 358-unit apartment building on the north lot took place from 2019 to 2023; development of the east lots is planned. The vehicle and pedestrian entrance from North California Boulevard was relocated to the north on November 10, 2022.