Plan Bay Area 2040

Do you daydream of new ways to cross over or under the San Francisco Bay? Close your eyes and see a fleet of flying cars, carrying commuters to work each day? This could be your time to shine. MTC and ABAG are looking for your biggest, brightest, billion dollar (or more!) ideas for redefining the way we travel in and around the Bay Area. This month, the agencies are jointly issuing an open Request for Transformative Projects – transportation project ideas that have the potential to revolutionize how we move around the region. Transformative Projects should provide new and creative solutions Read More

May's Map of the Month from MTC and ABAG Executive Director Steve Heminger looks at what year cities around the Bay Area are anticipated to reach their housing growth forecasts, assuming the annualized housing production rate since 2010 doesn't change. From the Executive Director's latest report to the MTC Commission and ABAG Executive Board: To beat a dead horse, May’s Map of the Month highlights the continued housing production challenges in the Bay Area, comparing Department of Finance housing production data between January 2010 and December 2017 with the Plan Bay Area 2040 housing 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 Read More

Three meetings are scheduled for Friday, May 11, at the Bay Area Metro Center: the MTC Operations Committee, the Joint MTC Planning Committee with the ABAG Administrative Committee, and the Joint MTC Legislation Committee and ABAG Legislation Committee. Read on for a summary of the major items that will be discussed and the recommended actions for the MTC Commission/ABAG Executive Board. Tune in live to the meetings on Friday from our Live Webcasts page, and bookmark the main Meetings page to read the meeting agendas and keep up with all MTC meetings. 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 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

Four meeting will be held on Friday, March 9, starting at 10:00 a.m. at the Bay Area Metro Center, including the MTC Operations Committee, Joint MTC Planning and ABAG Administrative Committees, Joint MTC and ABAG Legislative Committees, and Joint MTC Commission and MTC Policy Advisory Council. Major items for discussion include a proposed amendment to Plan Bay Area 2040 (Plan) and the Amended 2017 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to revise the cost and scope of the U.S. 101 Managed Lanes Project in San Mateo County (see the staff presentation and memo); a summary of the 2018 housing Read More

The MTC Commission today adopted an investment strategy for goods movement which will direct $3.8 billion over 10 years to 20 different projects in the Bay Area, with a particular focus on Interstate Corridors and the Port of Oakland in Alameda County. Currently, almost $1 trillion in freight flows to, from or through Northern California every year and these flows are projected to double by 2040. The goods movement sector is crucial to the success of many other related industries and is a key component of the region’s economic strategy for increasing access to living-wage jobs that have low Read More