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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

January 2002
Illustration of local transit modes by Bud Thon

Long-Range Plan Spotlights Transit Expansion and Smart Growth

Public Input Plays Critical Role

Take a bow, Bay Area. Following the most extensive public outreach effort in MTC history -- involving thousands of local residents -- the Commission last month adopted the 2001 Regional Transportation Plan. The 25-year plan specifies how some $87 billion in anticipated federal, state and local transportation funds will be spent in the nine-county region. While most of this money will be used to maintain and operate the street, highway and public transit systems that already are in place, the plan also calls for significant expansion of the Bay Area transportation network.

MTC will simultaneously pursue two public transit initiatives: a new Regional Transit Expansion Program and the creation of a Lifeline Transportation Network for low-income residents. There's good news for drivers, too. The Regional Transportation Plan provides funding for several high-profile congestion-relief projects, such as a fourth bore for the Caldecott Tunnel; widening U.S. 101 to accommodate carpool lanes from the Novato Narrows to Windsor in the North Bay and from South San Jose to Morgan Hill in the South Bay; reconfiguring the Interstate 80/Interstate 680/Route 12 interchange; and adding carpool lanes along Interstate 680 over the Sunol Grade, the second most congested corridor in the region.

The plan includes funds for redeveloping the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, and for constructing new bicycle and pedestrian facilities around the region. And it triples funding for "smart growth" programs that address urban sprawl and promote transit- and pedestrian-oriented development.
-- John Goodwin

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