Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Bay Area Residents Invited to Comment on Proposed Adjustments to Listing of Transit Projects

CONTACT:

Lizzie Kemp, Senior Planner
510.464.7804

Catalina Alvarado, Public Information Officer
510.817.5783

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 6, 2001...The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will hold a public hearing to take comment from the public on proposed amendments to the 2001 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, February 7, 2001, at 10:30 a.m., or immediately following the Bay Area Toll Authority Oversight Committee meeting, at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter Auditorium, 101 Eighth Street in Oakland, (opposite the Lake Merritt BART Station). Written comments can be submitted to MTC through Feb. 13.

The TIP is the region's transportation spending plan that contains public mass transit, highway and local road projects proposed for funding based on anticipated available federal, state and local funding over the next three years.

Many of the proposed amendments that are the subject of the public hearing are adjustments to transit projects to reflect the difference between actual and estimated dollar amounts for fiscal year 2000-2001 federal apportionments, which were published in the Federal Register on Jan. 18, 2001. The proposed amendments also include new transit projects to be financed by additional funding through federal earmarks and other Federal Transit Administration fund sources.

The 2001 TIP also is being amended at this time to include transit projects designed to help low-income Bay Area residents travel to jobs and necessary support services. The projects were recommended for a total of $5 million in funding over the next three years by MTC in December as part of its regional welfare-to-work efforts.

Other proposed amendments to the 2001 TIP result from the adoption of the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) by the California Transportation Commission. Additional federal funds were made available to transit projects through the STIP process. These additions and other adjustments to transit projects are reflected in the proposed amendments that are the subject of the public hearing.

The proposed amendments do not affect the air quality conformity and comply with the financial constraint requirements of the TIP. A listing of the proposed TIP amendments is available for public review at the MTC/ABAG Library and at major libraries in each of the nine Bay Area counties. Requests for a copy of the proposed amendments can be made by calling the Public Information Office at 510/817-5757.

Comments will be taken at the public hearing, and also can be submitted to MTC offices through Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. Send comments by mail to: MTC, 101 8th Street, Oakland, CA 94607; fax to: 510/817-5848; e-mail to: <info@mtc.ca.gov>. All comments should be addressed to the attention of Public Information. For further information, contact MTC's Public Information Office at 510/817-5757. For information about the TIP, go to MTC's Web site <www.mtc.ca.gov>.

MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

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