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Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Public Input Sought on Bay Crossings Alternatives

Cost, travel impact findings set for discussion

CONTACT:

Larry Magid
510.464.7819

John Goodwin
510.817.5862

OAKLAND, Calif., April 18, 2002...The search for a better way to cross the Bay raises a lot of questions. Should we build a new crossing or try to move more people through existing corridors? Should we focus on bridges or tunnels? Do we want to emphasize auto travel or transbay transit? How much should we pay? What will we get for our money? And what’s the cost of doing nothing?

The public is invited to discuss alternatives for improving transbay travel at two meetings to be held Tuesday, April 30 in Menlo Park and Wednesday, May 1 in San Leandro. Both meetings start at 6:15 p.m. The Menlo Park meeting will be held in the downstairs meeting room of the Main Library at 800 Alma Street. The San Leandro meeting will be in the Carnegie Lecture Hall in the Main Library at 300 Estudillo Avenue.

MTC is hosting the meetings to gather input that will help its San Francisco Bay Crossings Study team make recommendations regarding how best to plan for an expected 40 percent increase in transbay travel by the year 2025. This compares to a projected 30 percent rise in travel through the nine-county Bay Area as a whole. MTC projections indicate that the San Francisco-Oakland corridor will continue to account for the majority of all transbay travel and will show the biggest total increase in traffic during the years ahead, while the greatest percentage increase in traffic (75 percent) will be on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge.

In early April of this year, MTC’s Bay Crossings Study team presented its initial findings regarding costs, travel impacts and environmental issues associated with six proposed alternatives for improving transbay travel in the San Francisco-Oakland, San Mateo-Hayward and Dumbarton Bridge corridors:

  • Express bus/carpool lane/operational improvements (all corridors)
  • Bay Bridge corridor rail: a new heavy rail tunnel from San Francisco to Oakland and/or a new BART crossing with new San Francisco stations
  • Expansion of San Mateo-Hayward Bridge capacity with reversible lanes and eventual widening of the bridge to eight lanes
  • New four-lane mid-bay bridge linking Interstate 238 in the East Bay with Interstate 380 north of SFO
  • Commuter rail service on a rehabilitated Dumbarton rail bridge
  • Improvements to Dumbarton Bridge approach roadways

"Most of the attention to date has focused on anticipated project costs," noted MTC’s Bay Crossings Study project director Larry Magid. "But we need to look at more than just the price tags. Input from drivers, transit riders and other interested citizens will help us determine the best balance of cost, travel and environmental considerations. "

Anticipated project costs range from $286 million for rehabilitating the Dumbarton rail bridge and instituting commuter rail service over the span to more than $8 billion for a new mid-bay bridge, over $10 billion for a new BART link between San Francisco and Oakland, and more than $11 billion for a heavy-rail tunnel that could accommodate conventional or high-speed trains. Operational improvements in existing bridge corridors and the introduction of commuter rail service over a refurbished Dumbarton rail bridge would have the lowest environmental impact. The proposed mid-bay bridge is the only one of the six alternatives that would significantly reduce hours of delay and improve travel times and volume/capacity ratios.

MTC in late 2000 launched the San Francisco Bay Crossings Study –which is being paid for with state funds – in response to a request by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein that a 1991 study be updated. A 13-member policy committee of MTC commissioners from Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, plus representatives from the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) and Caltrans, and other transportation agency representatives provides policy guidance for the study. A technical advisory committee of staff from these agencies provides technical oversight.

In addition to the upcoming public meetings in Menlo Park and San Leandro, MTC will commission a telephone poll and will convene focus groups to gauge Bay Area residents’ opinions about the six crossing alternatives. The Bay Crossings Study policy committee will review results of the outreach activities as well as the study team’s initial findings prior to its next scheduled meeting in May 2002. The study team and the policy committee are expected to make their final recommendation to the state Legislature and the California Transportation Commission (CTC) in July 2002.

For more information on the study, go to MTC’s Web site at www.mtc.ca.gov.

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

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