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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

December 2001

Region Clears First Hurdle In 2012 Olympic Bid

The United States Olympic Committee this fall named the Bay Area as one of four finalists for the U.S. entry in the competition to land the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Planning a key role in the bid was transportation planning for the "Olympic family" -- some 10,000 athletes, and 5,000 coaches and officials -- and over 1 million spectators expected over the two-week period.

Among the improvements proposed by the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee (BASOC) are expansion of the park-and-ride lot system, construction of a busway on a refurbished Dumbarton rail bridge, and opening freeway carpool lanes for use by official Olympic vehicles. These "Olympic lanes" would be in effect 24 hours a day.

Not surprisingly, MTC and other agencies will capitalize on the Bay Area's position as a global technology center to help meet the challenge of moving the Olympic family and spectators from place to place -- no easy task with events scattered from the Monterey Equestrian Park to Lake Natoma near Sacramento.

All ticket buyers would be issued a TransLink® smart card, a universal transit pass now in the testing phase (see story). All Olympic fleet vehicles would have real-time access to traffic flow and incident data gathered by MTC's TravInfo® traveler information system and the Bay Area Transportation Management Center operated by Caltrans. Via a "My Olympic Games" Web portal, spectators could find out about transit options and sign up for on-the-spot carpools. MTC also would encourage employers to adopt telecommuting as part of a transportation demand strategy designed to manage "background traffic" during the Games.

BASOC doesn't expect major infrastructure investments to be needed. But the group recognizes that planned projects such as the $100 million-plus Dumbarton rail bridge rehabilitation may need to be accelerated. One of the region's strengths, according to BASOC, "is that the transportation infrastructure is well developed to support an event of the magnitude of the Olympic Games."

The United States Olympic Committee will announce its selection next fall -- the other contenders are New York, Houston and Washington. The winner will then go head-to-head with cities such as London, Paris, Rome and Toronto. The International Olympic Committee will make its final choice in 2005.
-- John Goodwin

For more information, visit www.basoc2012.com.

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