Press Releases

For Immediate Release

PRESS ADVISORY

Special Meeting to Approve Project List for the Bay Area Transportation Blueprint for the 21st Century

CONTACT:

Steve Heminger
510.817.5810

Who:	Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)
What:	Special Meeting to Approve Project List for the Bay Area Transportation Blueprint for the 21st Century (plus a preview of a long-haul commuter bus prototype that could be deployed regionwide as part of the Blueprint package)
Where:	MetroCenter Auditorium, 101 Eighth Street, Oakland
When:	Wednesday, March 29, 2000 10 a.m.

MTC – the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area – is convening a special meeting of its 19 commissioners tomorrow to consider adopting a list of high-priority highway and rail/bus expansion projects that together would constitute the "next generation" of major transportation investments for the region. The package is an outgrowth of MTC's year-long effort to develop a Bay Area Transportation Blueprint for the 21st Century.

An initial version of the list was unveiled at last week's monthly Commission meeting in anticipation of funding opportunities expected to be offered under the governor's soon-to-be-released 90-day Transportation Plan. Another catalyst was a recently announced initiative by Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-Walnut Creek and a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee) to develop a package of Bay Area projects that can effectively compete for the next round of federal "New Starts" funding.

The list to be considered tomorrow – which has been updated this week to incorporate additional input from project sponsors – would substantially boost service along three intercity train lines serving Bay Area commuters while closing some notable gaps in the regional network of tracks. At the same time, the proposal calls for near-term relief in the form of a Bay Area Rapid Bus network (a "BARB" to complement BART) that would deploy top-of-the-line commuter buses wherever there are chronic traffic problems. AC Transit plans to park one of its new transbay buses (fresh off the assembly line) outside the MetroCenter during the meeting to give MTC commissioners, members of the public and the media a first-hand taste of commuting in comfort.

Also part of the plan is a series of highway projects, many of them designed to facilitate the Bay Area Rapid Bus network by closing gaps in the region's diamond-lane system.

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