Plan Bay Area 2040

Update: Video recordings of these meetings (excluding MTC Policy Advisory Council Equity and Access Subcommittee) are now available.

• BATA Oversight Committee: Video Recording
• MTC Programming and Allocations Committee: Video Recording
• MTC Administration Committee: Video Recording
• MTC Policy Advisory Council: Video Recording

The Bay Area Toll Oversight Committee, two of MTC’s standing committees and the MTC Policy Advisory Council will meet starting at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 13, at the Bay Area Metro Center. Highlights include review of BATA's FY 2018-19 Toll Bridge Operating and Capital Budgets, funding updates for regional and state transportation programs, review of MTC's FY 2018-19 Agency Budget, discussion of MTC’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, and updates on several other MTC projects and programs. Read on for links to everything, and tune in live to the meetings on Wednesday from our Live Webcasts page. Read More

Horizon is an exciting new effort from MTC and ABAG to allow the public, planners and policymakers to wrestle with challenging questions about the external forces that could shape the Bay Area through 2050. Horizon will explore a range of pressing issues and attempt to put the region on sounder footing as it prepares for, and tries to shape, a trajectory that is both equitable and resilient to potential headwinds.

Horizon will identify a suite of potential external forces and allow residents, planners and decision-makers alike to think through policy and investment solutions that make sense in each distinct future. Ultimately, policies and projects that perform well regardless of what happens in the decades ahead will be identified as top priorities going forward. This planning initiative will inform the next regional transportation and land use plan, a separate but closely related effort that will kick off in mid-2019.

Currently, major Horizon work efforts have been directed towards establishing Guiding Principles that will help orient the process, as well as on identifying the futures themselves. Keep reading to find out more about the futures and watch the video above for additional background. Read More

Earlier this year, the blog provided a sneak peek at the long-awaited first new BART rail cars rolling into service around the Bay Area – and, with them, the promise of smoother, quieter, more comfortable and more spacious train rides for commute-weary Bay Area residents. In that post, we went into some detail on MTC’s essential role in funding and supporting BART’s $4.2 billion “Fleet of the Future” project to purchase and deploy 1,081 new rail cars. 

But it’s worth stepping back a bit from the funding mechanics to get a better understanding of the difficult realities that make these new rail cars and other related modernization projects so essential: BART is the region’s backbone for Transbay traffic but the system is way past its intended capacity, it is operating on 45-year old equipment, its geographic footprint is growing, and projected regional housing and job growth patterns suggest future demand will only increase. 

Earlier this month, staff from BART presented to MTC's Programming and Allocations Committee and provided an overview of, and update on, the expansion and modernization projects that BART is undertaking to increase capacity and meet future demand. Read More

ABAG’s Executive Board will meet this Thursday, March 15, starting at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Bay Area Metro Center.  The meeting will consist of reports from ABAG’s Administrative Committee, Legislation Committee, Finance Committee, and Regional Planning Committee.  View the agenda and download relevant attachments here, and continue reading on for a summary of major discussion and action items. Read More