Transbay Blog
East Bay
Oakland City Council Supports Airport Connector, With Conditions
Last night, the Oakland City Council voted on two meaty, controversial transportation topics back-to-back. First up was the parking meter fee controversy. Parking meter fees were rolled back from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on a 6-1 vote, and billboard revenue would be used toward filling the budget shortfall that has been reintroduced with the … Continue reading
Speak at the Oakland City Council Airport Connector Meeting, Win a Prize
There’s a big agenda ahead for the Oakland City Council at its meeting, on Tuesday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m. Discussion of the parking meter fees, which occupied a large chunk of the last meeting, will be continued at this next meeting. And then, right after the parking discussion, the full Council will finally turn … Continue reading
Whither East Bay BRT?
Courtesy of AC Transit. The AC Transit Board of Directors held a meeting to confront head-on the risk that the agency’s current financial crisis poses to its planned 17-mile bus rapid transit (BRT) project, which would extend from downtown Berkeley to San Leandro, via Telegraph Avenue, downtown Oakland, and East 14th Street. The State has … Continue reading
Complaint Filed with the FTA Against the OAC
In the latest chapter in the saga of the BART Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), Public Advocates has filed a formal complaint (PDF) with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on behalf of Urban Habitat, TransForm, and Genesis, claiming that BART has not fully met its obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Those obligations … Continue reading
Is the Oakland Airport Connector a Good TIGER-TIFIA Project? (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this post, we gave a little background on the TIFIA and TIGER federal funds that BART will pursue so that it will have enough money to build the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC). In order to tap into both the TIGER and TIFIA pots of money, the OAC will have to pass … Continue reading
Is the Oakland Airport Connector a Good TIGER-TIFIA Project? (Part 1)
Short answer: not exactly. But with the suspense now cleared from the air, let’s back up a bit. As we’ve discussed here a few times before, BART is about $100 million short of the funds it needs to build the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), a gap which accounts for approximately 20% of the total capital … Continue reading
New Bike-Ped Connection to Open on the Benicia Bridge
Benicia-Martinez Bridge. Courtesy of MTC/Caltrans. Throughout the 20th century, as the Bay Area changed fundamentally from a concentrated urban area to a region consisting predominantly of dispersed suburban development, once-innocent country roads became today’s roaring interstates, ever widened to accommodate (and induce additional) far-flung car trips. That, in a nutshell, is the story of the … Continue reading
Catch a TIGER by the Toe
The SFCTA and MTC are hoping to score $50 million of TIGER funds for Doyle Drive. Rendering courtesy of SFCTA. Certain pots of money in the ARRA federal stimulus bill that have been earmarked for transportation, like the $8 billion of grants for high-speed rail, have gotten a lot of attention. Other pots of money, … Continue reading
Disconnect the Connector
UPDATE (22 July 2009): MTC voted to allocate the $140 million to the Oakland Airport Connector. This Wednesday (tomorrow), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will consider the formal allocation of $140 million to the long-flailing Oakland Airport Connector (OAC). The allocation includes $70 million of ARRA stimulus funds, which MTC assigned last spring to the OAC … Continue reading
Downtown Berkeley’s Growing Pains
The Berkeley skyline, if one could call it that, has long been dominated by the Campanile and the two mid-rises on Shattuck Avenue that flank Center Street. That is poised to change, at least somewhat, now that the Berkeley City Council has approved the Downtown Area Plan. Downtown Berkeley: looking south from Shattuck toward Downtown … Continue reading
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