Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Regional Agency Head Announces Retirement

Lawrence D. Dahms, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, to step down after 23 years of service

CONTACT:

Brenda Kahn, Senior Public Information Officer
Phone: 510.817.5773

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 27, 2000... Lawrence D. Dahms, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for the past 23 years, announced today that he will retire at the end of the year. Dahms, who turned 65 in July of 2000, made the announcement at the regular monthly meeting of the Commission at its Oakland, Calif., headquarters.

Dahms joined MTC in 1977, when the public agency -- the metropolitan planning organization for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area -- was in its seventh year. He steered MTC's growth from a relatively unknown entity with a primary focus on planning to a prominent regional body in charge of directly disbursing, or approving the spending of, more than $1 billion a year in local, regional, state and federal transportation moneys.

Dahms interpreted his mandate broadly, launching a number of pioneering initiatives, from the Transportation for Livable Communities program that fosters transit-oriented development and pedestrian-friendly streets, to the forthcoming TransLink® universal smart-card ticket that will be a passport to all bus, rail and ferry systems in the Bay Area. Dahms also has acted as the region's chief transportation ambassador to the state capital and Washington, D.C., playing a central role in securing the federal full-funding grant agreement that has fueled the BART extension now under construction to San Francisco International Airport.

Under Dahms' leadership, MTC in 1988 took on the added role of the Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways, or SAFE, in the process becoming an operating agency with responsibility for installing and maintaining a network of 3,500 motorist safety call boxes along the region's freeways and expressways. As the SAFE, the agency also manages the Freeway Service Patrol, a fleet of 60 congestion-busting tow trucks that help to keep Bay Area freeways clear of obstacles and provide free assistance to stranded motorists.

In 1998, the California Legislature gave MTC another vote of confidence by expanding the agency's portfolio of duties to include the new role of the Bay Area Toll Authority, or BATA. As BATA, the agency oversees the region's seven state-owned toll bridges, disbursing what last year amounted to $169 million in bridge toll revenues and spearheading a major capital improvement program for the bridges.

During his tenure with MTC, Dahms also has been extremely active on the national transportation scene. He is chairman of the board of the Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., a prestigious transportation research organization located in Washington, D.C. Dahms also sits on the board of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, a D.C.-based group that he chaired in 1994-95, as well as the board of trustees for the International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies at San Jose State University. In the past, he chaired the Transportation Research Board (TRB), an arm of the National Research Council (NRC), and headed several TRB/NRC study committees, including the NRC Committee on Infrastructure Innovation and the TRB Committee for the Study of High Speed Surface Transportation in the United States.

Dahms noted that the decision to step down from his post in December comes at a strategic moment for the agency, which has 123 employees and a current annual operating budget of $55 million, and is overseen by 19 commissioners, most of them local elected officials. "There will be a new federal administration and a new state legislative session beginning in January. There will be several new MTC commissioners appointed as well. These changes present new opportunities for both staff and commissioners," he said.

MTC Chairman James T. Beall Jr., a Santa Clara County supervisor, said today he will appoint a special Commission committee to select a new executive director. "The commissioners have enjoyed an amazingly productive partnership with Larry Dahms and his staff over the past two decades," Beall said. "He has overseen the expansion of the BART system in several directions, the birth and growth of a modern light-rail system in Santa Clara County, and a substantial expansion of the region's carpool lane network. He put MTC on the national map, and successfully competed for scarce state and federal transportation dollars for Bay Area projects time and time again."

Prior to coming to MTC, Dahms held a series of executive positions over a six-year period with the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) and served as principal legislative analyst with the California Legislative Analyst's office for eight years. He also served stints with Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Arthur D. Little consulting firm. Trained as a civil engineer, Dahms resides in Berkeley, Calif., with his wife Lois.