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| FEATURED VIDEOS & PHOTO GALLERIES |
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| CONFERENCE: YOUTHS SAY YES TO THE ENVIRONMENT |
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| Teens engage in team-building at the last YES Conference. Photo by Kingmond Young.
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| MTC has a message for the youths of the Bay: Let's talk clean air, healthy transportation options and youth-led climate solutions! It’s all happening at the Youth for the Environment and Sustainability (YES) Conference, a one-day gathering for Bay Area students who are passionate about the environment and climate change. The free YES Conference made its debut in 2013, and the event is back at MTC's Oakland offices on Saturday, February 7, for another round of presentations, brainstorming and hands-on activities, with students in the driver’s seat. Highlights include a bike-repair demonstration and a visit by the BayMobile, an aquarium on wheels that explores the effects of climate change on the Bay. Follow the conference on Facebook and sign up. Walk-ins at the door will also be allowed. |
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| RECRUITMENT: TAKE A SEAT AT THE POLICY TABLE |
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| The Policy Advisory Council meets monthly in Oakland. Photo by Peter Beeler.
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| We’re recruiting for three vacant positions on MTC’s Policy Advisory Council, a citizen advisory committee that brings together diverse perspectives relating to the environment, the economy and social equity. In Santa Clara County, we are seeking someone representing economic or environmental interests. In Contra Costa County, we are searching for an individual representing disabled interests. We are also recruiting for an at-large position representing the economy or the environment. Committee meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month in the afternoon at MTC's offices in Oakland. Apply online by February 9, 2015
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| VITAL SIGNS TAKES THE PULSE OF THE BAY AREA |
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| Vital Signs tracks 14 transportation indicators. Photo by Canbalsi, iStock.
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| If you have an appetite for transportation stats, we’re dishing up a smorgasbord of data at our new Vital Signs website. The initial release provides in-depth data on 14 Bay Area transportation indicators — such as commute times, commute mode choice, daily miles traveled and pavement condition — and compares the current situation with past trends and conditions in other major U.S. metro areas. Best of all, the information is digested into a series of easy-to-absorb charts and maps that not only are highly interactive, but in some cases, can show what’s going on at a hyper-local level. We’re building the Vital Signs site in phases, and eventually also will measure the Bay Area’s land-use trends, and the health of the local economy and environment. Read the release and be sure to bookmark vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov. |
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| TOP TEN CONGESTION HOTSPOTS IDENTIFIED |
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| See how your commute ranks on our Top 10 Worst Hot Spots. Photo by Noah Berger.
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| MTC in January released the long-awaited Top 10 Congestion Hot Spots in the Bay Area, and there are some surprising results. The No. 1 most congested freeway segment is now the evening commute leaving San Francisco along Interstate 80 and crossing the Bay Bridge to east of Treasure Island. The last time we released the Top 10 list, it was for 2008, when the worst hotspot designation went to the westbound morning commute along the East Bay’s Interstate 80 approach to the Bay Bridge. That notorious segment has now slipped to fourth place. Read More
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| BAY LIGHTS FOREVER |
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| MTC has given a green light to making the Bay Lights permanent. Photo by Noah Berger.
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| The Bay Lights have dazzled viewers during their two-year stint on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge with their ever-changing nightly dance. Now the shimmering LED installation is set to become a permanent fixture on the bridge, thanks in part to a commitment by MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority to cover operation and maintenance costs to the tune of $250,000 a year. The project got more good news in December when Illuminate the Arts, the nonprofit that oversees artist Leo Villareal’s creation, announced that it had raised the $4 million necessary to turn on the lights indefinitely. The current network of 25,000 LEDs will be removed in March and replaced by early 2016 with a more robust version. Read More
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| CITY CARSHARE ON THE ROAD TO EXPANSION |
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| City CarShare is expanding in low-income areas in the East Bay. Photo by Peter Beeler.
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| City CarShare already boasts 16,000 members, and the nonprofit car-sharing service is on the road to gaining even more as its fleet expands to additional low-income communities in the East Bay. Thanks in part to a nearly $1 million grant from MTC in December, CarShare will deploy more vehicles to Richmond, El Cerrito and Oakland. Some will be hybrid and electric. The program, called CarShare4All, is the result of a collaboration with the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and Bay Area Climate Collaborative. Read More
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| 511 TRAFFIC NOW AVAILABLE IN NAPA COUNTY |
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| The 511.org traffic map now shows conditions in Napa County. |
| Travelers in the central Bay Area have long relied on 511’s information system for important updates on traffic conditions. Now motorists in Napa County can join their ranks. Drivers can call 511 and request “traffic conditions” to receive information about Highway 29 and on Highway 12 along Jameson Canyon Road between Interstate 80 and State Route 29. 511 is the free regional transportation information portal available on both the phone and web (www.511.org), and is operated by MTC. Read More
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| BUSES BRIDGE LATE-NIGHT TRANSIT GAP |
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| New late-night routes connect San Francisco with the East Bay. Photo by Noah Berger.
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| Revelers and nightshift workers alike have reason to celebrate: two new late-night options for traversing the Bay. New bus routes and more frequent service are the products of a collaboration between BART and AC Transit. The new Line 822 travels between BART stations, from 24th Street in San Francisco to Pittsburg/Bay Point. Existing late-night bus lines between the city and the East Bay — 800 and 801 — now run more frequently. MTC contributed funding to the one-year pilot. Read More
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| NOW SHOWING IN MARIN: THE BRIDGE BUILDERS |
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| Blum's photos get up close and personal with construction crews. Photo by Joseph Blum.
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| The next stop for Joseph A. Blum’s photo project, The Bridge Builders, is The Bay Model, 2100 Bridgeway in Sausalito, where it will be on display through March 7. The show features a selection of Blum’s documentation of the Bay Bridge East Span construction, from the perspective of the men and women who put their bodies on the line to maneuver gigantic steel parts and cables into place, day and night through all weather conditions. Come meet Blum at a reception at The Bay Model on Saturday, February 7, 1:30–3:30 p.m. Read More
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| CALL FOR ARTISTS |
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| Art by Peter Tonningsen and Lisa Levine of Counterpoint Studio, LLC. |
| Bay Area-based artists are invited to apply to be part of MTC’s Community Art Program, which sponsors rotating exhibits throughout our offices at the Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter in Oakland. We’re looking for hangable art with themes that relate to transportation or the beauty of our region. Other themes will be considered as well. Stop by the MetroCenter at 101 Eighth Street in Oakland to get a sense of what we’re looking for, and check out “Present History” by Stacey M. Carter, a current exhibit that explores the shifting urban environment in the Bay Area. Read More
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| NOTABLE QUOTE |
| “What is important is the connection that we are rooted in our forebears and we are committed and linked to our descendants. The high-speed rail links us from the past to the future, from the south to Fresno and north. This is truly a California project bringing us together today.” |
| Governor Jerry Brown on the January 6 groundbreaking in Fresno for the first segment of the state's LA-SF high-speed rail system. Read More
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| ON THE CALENDAR |
Express Lane Open House: February 25
MTC is hosting an open house on the conversion of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to express lanes along three East Bay routes: Interstate 880, State Route 92 and State Route 84 between Oakland and Milpitas. Read More
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