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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

April 1999: Focus on High-Speed Rail

News Briefs

New Chiefs at Bay Area Transportation Agencies

Experienced new hands have taken the helm at three of the Bay Area's largest transportation districts: the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (GGBHTD) and AC Transit.

Michael Burns Michael Burns was tapped by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to become general manager of Muni, effective April 1, 1999. As chief operating officer for the past three years of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the nation's fifth largest transit network, Burns oversaw operations of the bus and rail transit system that serves Philadelphia and four suburban counties. Prior to joining SEPTA in 1994 as assistant general manager, Burns worked for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston for 10 years, rising from a senior transit analyst to assistant general manager for rail.

Celia G. Kupersmith Celia G. Kupersmith became the ninth general manager of the GGBHTD on April 1, 1999, replacing retiring General Manager Carney Campion. Kupersmith served as executive director of the Regional Transportation Commission in Reno, Nev., for the past six years and prior to that, held several key positions with the transportation authority in Austin, Texas. She also currently serves as a vice president of the executive committee of the American Public Transit Association.

Rick Fernandez The AC Transit Board of Directors has appointed Rick Fernandez acting general manager of the East Bay bus system during the temporary absence of the agency's chief executive officer, Sharon D. Banks, who is on medical leave.

Fernandez served for the past two years as AC Transit's assistant general manager for operations, with daily responsibility for managing the 1,600 workers who operate and maintain the system's 750-bus fleet. A transit veteran, he held a number of management positions with New Jersey Transit over a 20-year period before joining AC Transit. -- Marjorie Blackwell

Statewide Honors for Local People and Projects

The California Transportation Foundation has announced the winners of its annual Tranny awards, and six Bay Area people and projects are among this year's honorees. Bill Hein

  • William F. ("Bill") Hein, former deputy executive director of MTC, was recognized for his "hands on" role in critical MTC issues during his two decades with the agency and for "his wise counsel and steady support of the development of transportation services in the Bay Area."

The other Bay Area award winners are:

  • Caltrans, District 4, which garnered Tranny's Project of the Year award for its Cypress Freeway replacement project, and the Community Awareness Tranny for shoreline restoration adjacent to Interstate 80 in Emeryville;
  • the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, which was selected as Tranny's Organization of the Year;
  • the Altamont Commuter Express, recognized as "the most successful new rail program in 1998"; and the
  • Solano Transportation Authority and the Solano Economic Development Corporation, joint recipients of a Tranny award for transportation management.
-- Marjorie Blackwell

Region's Highway Safety Net Expands

FSP
An FSP driver prepares to help a motorist

The white tow trucks of the Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) will soon be seen in more corners of the Bay Area, extending the program's existing reach and adding new highways to the safety network.

Starting in July 1999, the roving tow truck service -- administered by the MTC Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE) -- will increase the number of patrolled roadway segments or beats, from 22 to 28, adding more than 65 miles to its coverage, for a total of 330 miles.

Seven more trucks will help the existing fleet of 52 tow trucks (plus three pickup trucks and four back-up trucks) patrol the most congested freeways of the region, primarily during peak commute hours.

With the FSP on the scene, the flow of traffic should improve and polluting emissions be reduced, as disabled vehicles, debris and other safety hazards are moved out of highway lanes.

Three out of the six new beats are in or cross into Alameda County -- two will extend the existing coverage on Interstate 580 from Foothill Road in Dublin north all the way to Harrison Street in Oakland. On Interstate 680, tow trucks will continue north from Highway 101 in San Jose to the Warm Springs area in Alameda County, connecting at either end with existing beats.

In Contra Costa County, the FSP will begin patrolling State Route 4 for the first time, along the stretch from I-680 in Concord east to Antioch, while in the North Bay, coverage of U.S. 101 will be extended from State Route 37 in Marin County north to Petaluma.

At the southernmost limits of current FSP service, a portion of Santa Cruz County's State Route 1 will be added to the network, from its junction with State Route 9 to State Park Drive.

The FSP program is paid for by a variety of federal, state and local funds, including part of a $1-per-vehicle annual registration fee assessed to Bay Area motorists. The California Highway Patrol and Caltrans are partners in the program with MTC SAFE.

FSP drivers stop an average of 8,000 times a month to clear accidents, assist stranded motorists, remove dangerous road debris, tag abandoned vehicles and otherwise help to make the region's freeways safer and less congested.

-- Reka Goode

On Video
Hometown Blues

ABAG The region's housing and growth crisis is the focus of a new 30-minute documentary titled "Hometown Blues," produced by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). Three special broadcasts of the documentary will each be followed by a town hall meeting and a public discussion.

The documentary will be shown:

Thursday, May 13 at 7 p.m.
Petaluma City Council Chambers
11 English Street, Petaluma
Town Hall meeting at 7:30 p.m.
(Tune in to Petaluma Cable Access, Channel 63, to watch the program.)

Wednesday, May 26 at 8 p.m.
Contra Costa Television
10 Douglas Drive, Martinez
Town hall meeting at 8:30 p.m.
(Tune in to CCTV, Channel 18, 19 or 27, to watch the program; join the discussion by phone.)

Thursday, May 27 at 8 p.m.
KTEH-TV Channel 54
1585 Schallenberger Road, San Jose
Town hall meeting at 8:30 p.m.
(Tune in to KTEH to watch the program; join the discussion by phone.)

To reserve a seat, for more information or to purchase a copy of the video, contact ABAG at 510.464.7900, or check the Web site: www.abag.ca.gov/abag/events/ hometown/.

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