Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF MAY 23, 2007

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

Dinner for Outgoing Commissioners
Oakland, April 26

Outgoing commissioners Anderson, Beall, DeSaulnier, Torliatt and Young joined many current commissioners and senior MTC staff at an event honoring our departing colleagues. Many thanks to Maria Leon, Randy Rentschler, and Brenda Kahn for coordinating the arrangements for this delightful evening.

BATA Bond Closing
New York, April 26

Brian Mayhew and our banking team have closed another successful transaction to help finance the bridge construction program. $500 million in variable rate bonds were finally priced at 4.08% and another $310 million in fixed rate bonds were sold at a rate of 4.09%. This brings the “all-in” cost of the Bay Area Toll Authority’s $5 billion in outstanding debt to only 4.31%.

MacArthur Maze Collapse
Oakland, April 29

In view of the horrific nature of this tanker truck accident that collapsed one freeway section and severely damaged another at the intersection of Interstates 80, 580, and 880, the response by Caltrans, the region’s transit agencies, and some speedy highway contractors has been widely praised. The I-880 connector was restored to traffic only a week after the accident, and the I-580 connector is scheduled to re-open on Friday of this week — only 26 days after it collapsed in a fireball.

MTC’s 511 traveler information system played a pivotal role in getting the word out about additional transit service offered by BART, various bus agencies, and the ferry operators, as well as the road detour routes that Caltrans had established around the site of the collapse.

• See Maze Collapse stories and photos
  

Muni Funding Panel
San Francisco, May 3

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has appointed me to a panel of city and regional officials to assess the San Francisco Municipal Railway’s fiscal condition and identify potential new sources of revenue for the Bay Area’s busiest transit system.

SPUR Presentation
San Francisco, May 8

I made a lunchtime presentation to the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association about my service on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission.

Governor’s “May Revise” Released
Sacramento, May 14

The good news is that the Governor’s May revision of his FY 2007-08 budget proposal forecasts that the “spillover” gasoline sales tax revenue will be $210 million higher than originally estimated, for a total of $827 million in the budget year. The bad news is that the Governor still intends to divert all of this revenue — plus an additional $472 million in other transportation funds — away from public transit to other General Fund purposes.

For the Bay Area, this proposal would result in a loss of $145 million in State Transit Assistance (STA) funds that under current law should go to transit operators and MTC. The proposed diversion also jeopardizes almost $130 million in Bay Area public transit capital projects in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) that are scheduled to receive funding next year. MTC is joining a broad coalition of interests that are vigorously opposing the Governor’s proposed diversion.

• See State Budget Update: May Revise
  

SAFETEA Commission Meeting
Washington DC, May 16–17

The latest meeting of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission — on which I serve as an appointee of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — featured a presentation on the promise of intercity passenger rail as well as extended discussion among the commissioners of the key policy and financial issues that must be addressed in our report to Congress due by January 2008. We expect to meet four more times this summer to continue those discussions in order to prepare a series of draft recommendations by the fall.

IBTTA Board of Directors Meeting
Richmond VA, May 18–19

I attended the regular board of directors meeting of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, of which BATA is a major U.S. member.

Map of the Month

This month’s map highlights the effects of urban density on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO²) emissions per household. As you can see from the map of the Bay Area, lower per capita CO² emissions generally appear in the most densely populated parts of the region due to households in those communities driving less and shorter distances compared to households in more suburban or rural areas.

• 2006 Carbon Dioxide Emissions (PDF 1.6 MB)

MTC Operational Statistics (PDF)

Upcoming Events

June 12 — Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, Sacramento
June 20–21 — SAFETEA Commission, Washington DC