Transportation investments primary focus of MTC delegation meetings on Capitol Hill

A group of Metropolitan Transportation Commission members and staff are in Washington this week to advocate for funding through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to advance the ambitious goals set forth in Plan Bay Area 2050, the long-range roadmap for transportation, housing, economic vitality and environmental health adopted jointly in October 2021 by MTC and ABAG.

The 30-year, $1.4 trillion vision is defined by 35 strategies to meet the Bay Area’s longstanding housing affordability problems; deliver a safe, well-connected and multimodal transportation network; improve the nine-county region’s resilience against the warming climate and rising sea levels; and improve access to opportunity for all Bay Area residents.

Transportation investments will be the primary focus of the MTC delegation’s meetings on Capitol Hill this week. MTC’s Annual Report to Congress notes that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Bay Area to secure federal dollars to tackle some of its most pressing mobility challenges. The report spotlights the Bay Area Infrastructure Grants Strategy, designed to help the region compete for more than $100 billion of grants to be distributed by the U.S. Department of Transportation in the coming years. Bay Area priorities for some of the major grant programs in the nearly $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law include:

Capital Investment Grants

• Completion of the ongoing BART Core Capacity and Caltrain Electrification initiatives
• BART extension from Berryessa/North San Jose to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara
• Caltrain extension the Salesforce Transit Center in downtown San Francisco

Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Rail and Rail Safety

• Caltrain Electrification
• Caltrain extension to downtown San Francisco
• San Jose Diridon Station redevelopment

Bus and Bus Facilities

• Regional Zero-Emission Bus Transition

Bridge and Rural Surface Transportation

• Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit
• Resilient State Route 37 improvements

MEGA (National Infrastructure Project Assistance)

• Interstate 680 improvements in Contra Costa County (680 Forward)
• Oakland Waterfront Mobility Hub

INFRA, Port and Rail Safety

• Interstate 80 Clean Freight Truck Scales Project in Solano County
• Port of Oakland Outer Harbor redevelopment
• Alameda County rail safety enhancement program