Transbay Blog
Regional Transportation Plan
SB 375 and fair share
Before Senate Bill 375, the basic premise of California’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) was that each city in a region would be expected to absorb its “fair share” of the region’s projected housing need at all income levels. Each city would theoretically undertake a planning process to ensure that it could accommodate its assigned … Continue reading
A missed opportunity, and the shortcomings of regional planning
Gearing up to prepare the next update to the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has been evaluating a new policy framework to determine when a transportation project is considered to be a regional commitment. Projects that are committed will be included in the next RTP. Projects that are not committed could … Continue reading
When commitment isn’t a virtue
Throughout the controversy over the Oakland Airport Connector that unfolded in 2009-2010, transit advocates opposing the project faced at least one disadvantage: The perception of nearly all local leaders with some measure of approval authority over the project — and in particular, commissioners on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) approving the flow of funds — … Continue reading
Laying the groundwork for a Sustainable Communities Strategy
Last month the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and regional partners released the Initial Vision Scenario, a document that lays the groundwork for the Bay Area’s Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS). MTC and ABAG will develop an SCS with the goal of reducing regional per capita vehicle emissions 7 percent by 2020 and 15 percent by 2035, in … Continue reading
Regional HOT lane network going back to the drawing board
When last updating the Bay Area’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) in Spring 2009, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission reserved a distinguished place in the RTP for its planned regional network of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. The plan envisions freeway motorists paying tolls via FasTrak to beat the traffic jams, by entering specific lanes otherwise designated for … Continue reading
Initial estimates for an ambitious Bay Area GHG target
The “Big Four” among California’s metropolitan planning organizations — SCAG (Los Angeles/Southern California), MTC/ABAG (San Francisco Bay Area), SANDAG (San Diego), and SACOG (Sacramento) — govern regions that feature urban population densities and relatively mature transit networks. Abundant opportunities exist in the urban cores of all four regions to ratchet up the intensity of land … Continue reading
New Feature on SB 375
Sprawl in Rocklin, CA, outside of Sacramento. Courtesy of Flickr user neighborhoods.org. I’ve written before about Senate Bill 375, California’s recently enacted anti-sprawl land use planning law, on this blog, but the bill passed back in 2008. Since it’s been awhile, a refresher seemed in order. Towards that end, I’ve written a new blog page, … Continue reading
Shifting Funds, Shifty Priorities
First, A Few Numbers (and Acronyms) Regular readers may recall our previous discussion of Transportation 2035, the latest update to MTC’s ongoing efforts on the Regional Transportation Plan. Earlier this year, we wrote a special feature that describes the multifaceted plan, fleshing out how MTC has proposed to allocate $226 billion of local, state, and … Continue reading
Menu for the Bay Area Transportation Stimulus
Although we have yet to see a fully reconciled stimulus bill to come from Congress and President Obama, agencies across the nation are eagerly putting together their wish lists for how to spend their portion of the $800 billion-plus stimulus pie. Here in the Bay Area, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has released a draft (PDF) … Continue reading
Featured: Transportation 2035
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has been in the midst of preparing Transportation 2035, which is the recent update to the Regional Transportation Plan; the draft of the plan and its environmental impact report have since been made available. The RTP provides a guide as to how the Bay Area will spend $226 billion of transportation … Continue reading
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