Transactions Newsletter

Bay Area Toll Authority

The creation of BATA is good news for Bay Area travelers, who now have a local entity to serve as a guardian for the regions seven state-owned bridges and as a fiscal watchdog for the approximately $140 million that the spans currently generate annually. The addition of the BATA duties also is momentous for MTCs staff and commissioners, who now will oversee a $1.3-billion program to update and expand the bridges, and, for the first time, are in the position of issuing bonds to expedite the work.

BATA Is Born
In August 1997, the governor signed into law Senate Bill 226 (Kopp), designating MTC as the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA). The bill, which became effective on Jan. 1, 1998, gave BATA responsibility for overseeing the newly created Bay Area Toll Account, to be fed by revenues collected on the seven state-owned Bay Area toll bridges (except revenue from the $1 seismic surcharge).

Caltrans retains responsibility for day-to-day operation and maintenance of the bridges as well as for construction management of capital projects. (The Golden Gate Bridge is owned and operated by a special district, and was not part of SB 226.)

One of the driving forces behind the formation of BATA was a desire to speed up construction of Regional Measure 1 (RM 1) projects. Passed by voters in 1988, RM 1 set a uniform auto toll of $1 on Bay Area bridges, earmarking proceeds from the toll hike for major rehabilitation and congestion-relief projects on the bridges and their approaches.

RM 1 Moves Forward
RM 1 singled out five of the region's seven state-owned toll bridges for upgrades. In the case of the Carquinez and Benicia-Martinez bridges, the projects involve the construction of entirely new spans to replace or augment existing structures.

In late 1998, BATA issued a long-range plan showing how the RM 1 projects will be delivered between now and the year 2006. Already there is visible progress: Caltrans has begun construction of a replacement for the antiquated southbound span of the Carquinez Bridge, and three other projects are almost ready to advertise for construction. In the near future, MTC will issue bonds to keep the Northern Bridge Group projects on schedule.

Bay Bridge Design Selected
The effort to design and align the replacement structure for the seismically unsound east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge could be called BATA's baptism by fire. The high-profile, high-stakes project thrust the fledgling panel into the media spotlight on several occasions last year.

After numerous opportunities for public input, including a voicemail hotline, and intensive engineering and architectural exercises that took two bridge types to the 30 percent design stage, BATA in June of 1998 was ready to make a choice. Acting on recommendations from the Commissions Bay Bridge Design Task Force and the expert-packed Engineering and Design Advisory Panel, BATA selected a single-tower, self-anchored suspension span adjacent to Yerba Buena Island, transitioning to twin causeways that will stretch to Oakland. A 15.5-foot-wide path for bicyclists and pedestrians will extend along the entire 2-mile length of the new span.

- Alan Eliot & Brenda Kahn

BATA Revenue and Expense Charts