Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Public Invited to Weigh in on Funding for Transportation Improvements

CONTACT:

Dianne Steinhauser
510.464.7757

Ellen Griffin
510.817.5854

Comments on the Revised Draft 2003 Transportation Improvement Program can be submitted to MTC offices through Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2003, at 5 p.m. Send comments by mail to MTC, 101 Eighth Street, Oakland, CA 94607; fax to 510.817.5848; or e-mail to info@mtc.ca.gov. All comments should be addressed to the attention of Public Information. For further information about the TIP, contact Raymond Odunlami of MTC at 510.817.5799, rodunlami@mtc.ca.gov.

---

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 3, 2003...The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will hold a public hearing Jan. 8, 2003, to solicit comment from Bay Area residents on the Revised Draft 2003 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the air quality conformity finding for the 2003 TIP. The hearing will be held in the Dahms Auditorium in the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter at 101 Eighth Street in Oakland; it will begin at 10:30 a.m. or immediately following MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority Oversight Committee meeting, whichever occurs later.

The TIP is a near-term transportation spending plan for the nine Bay Area counties that includes local street and road projects, highway improvements and public transit investments proposed for funding based on anticipated federal, state and local revenues during the three-year period from fiscal year 2002-03 through fiscal year 2004-05. MTC prepares a new TIP every two years with the assistance of its transportation partners, and the TIP is based on MTC’s long-range transportation plan.

The path toward approval of the 2003 TIP was cleared of a major obstacle on Dec. 24, 2002, when the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay on the use of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) approved motor-vehicle emissions budget to determine conformity for the 2003 TIP. The emissions budget is necessary for MTC to demonstrate that the TIP meets federal air quality objectives. The stay had been put in place by the court on July 25, 2002, in response to a lawsuit challenging EPA’s earlier approval of the motor-vehicle emissions budget. The Ninth Circuit’s action to lift the stay had been expected, since the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ lawsuit on Nov. 13, 2002, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the action against the EPA.

With the stay lifted, MTC is now on track to consider adoption of the 2003 TIP at the Commission’s next meeting on Jan. 22. At that meeting, MTC staff will bring a final recommended 2003 TIP, with a summary of the significant comments received and the actions taken on those comments, to the Commission for adoption. Once adopted by the Commission, the document will be forwarded to Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for approval and inclusion in the Federal State Transportation Improvement Program.

The Revised Draft 2003 TIP is consistent with MTC’s 2001 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), the long-range planning blueprint adopted by the Commission in Dec. 2001, and does not include any new regionally significant projects beyond those currently included in the 2001 RTP.

Comments on the Revised Draft 2003 TIP will be taken at the Jan. 8 public hearing, and also can be submitted to MTC offices through Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2003, at 5 p.m. Send comments by mail to MTC, 101 Eighth Street, Oakland, CA 94607; fax to 510.817.5848; or e-mail to info@mtc.ca.gov. All comments should be addressed to the attention of Public Information. For further information about the TIP, contact Raymond Odunlami of MTC at 510.817.5799 or visit MTC’s Web site at <www.mtc.ca.gov>.

Copies of the Revised Draft 2003 TIP are available for public review at the MTC/ABAG Library and at major libraries around the region.

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

---