TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

Bridges were definitely in the news this past year, with groundbreaking festivities marking the start of three long-awaited bridge construction projects.

Dignitaries first put ceremonial shovels to dirt for a new span to be built across the Carquinez Strait, parallel to and east of the existing Benicia-Martinez Bridge. The new structure will carry five lanes of northbound traffic, including a slow-vehicle lane, and is scheduled to open to traffic in January 2004. The existing bridge has already been widened, and will be converted to southbound-only traffic once the new span is completed. Farther west along the strait, the local citizenry turned out in droves to take part in celebrations initiating construction of a graceful new twin-tower suspension span for the Carquinez Bridge. The new span will replace the 72-year-old, workhorse steel-truss westbound bridge, while the newer eastbound span -- built in 1958 -- is being retrofitted. The new suspension span opens in early 2003.

Meanwhile, the Bay Area freeway with the most congested evening commute -- a.k.a. the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge -- is scheduled to get some relief. On the southeast shoreline of San Francisco Bay, an orange "under construction" sign was unveiled by officials to kick off the project to widen the span. Two new lanes are being added to the low-rise, trestle section of the bridge, to match the six-lane capacity of the soaring high-rise portion of the span, and shoulders will be built in each direction along the water-hugging causeway and its eastern approach. By the end of 2002, traffic will be flowing across the new lanes. The entire bridge also is being strengthened as part of Caltrans' toll bridge seismic retrofit program.

All three of these bridge projects are part of a $1.5 billion construction program overseen by BATA and funded by voter-approved Regional Measure 1 (RM 1). The 1988 ballot measure set a uniform toll of $1 on all state-owned Bay Area bridges, with revenues earmarked for a package of bridge and transit improvements.
-- Réka Goode

BATA REVENUES 1998-99	BATA EXPENSES 1998-99
Total Revenues $169,186,555 Northern Group (a) $79,128,513 1 Daily Toll Revenues $61,004,687 2 Interest Income $17,607,126 3 Other Income & Revenues $516,700 Southern Group (b) $90,058,042 4 Daily Toll Revenues $75,084,567 5 Interest Income $14,181,736 6 Other Income & Revenues $791,739	Total Expenses $169,186,555 Northern Group (a) $79,128,513 1 Capital Expenses(c) $34,978,602 2 Transfers to Reserves $30,368,719 3 Operating Expenses(d) $12,069,818 4 Transfers to MTC(e) $1,711,374 Southern Group (b) $90,058,042 5 Transfers to Reserves $29,037,487 6 Transfers to MTC(e) $23,831,738 7 Capital Expenses(c) $20,316,433 8 Operating Expenses(d) $16,872,384
(a) Northern Bridge Group: Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Richmond-San Rafael (b) Southern Bridge Group: Bay Bridge, Dumbarton, San Mateo-Hayward (c) Consists of Regional Measure I Program and Bridge Rehabilitation Program (d) Consists of bridge operations, bridge maintenance and Caltrans administration (e) Consists of transfers to MTC for BATA administration and MTC Toll-Funded Transit programs Source: Fiscal Year 1998-99 Toll Bridge Fund Audit

Contents

• Bay Area Transportation Blueprint for the 21st Century
  • MTC Sends Plan to Sacramento
  • Phased Implementation Plan
  • Taking the Public's Pulse
• 1999 Annual Report
  • A Message from the Editor
  • Focus on Funding
  • MTC Allocations Table
  • MTC Highlights and Finances
  • BATA Highlights and Finances
  • SAFE Highlights and Finances