Plan Bay Area: Make Your Voice Heard--Virtually 

More than 1,000 people attended our full-to-capacity second round of public outreach meetings for Plan Bay Area this winter. If you couldn't attend the meeting in your county, there's still a chance to participate--via our Virtual Workshop, now online.

You can view several informative videos, and vote on a series of key questions about transportation investments and policies to guide the region's growth and development over the next 25 years. The Virtual Workshop site will be available through February 15, 2012. Read more about the interagency Plan Bay Area effort here.   

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Last year's high school interns toured the Cable Car Barn and stopped for a photo op in a retired SF Railway car.

We're recruiting for the summer high school internship program, which places approximately 35 teens in paid transportation jobs in public agencies around the region. The program exposes students to career opportunities in the field of transportation by placing them in local public works departments, public transit agencies and the like; offers professional skill-building opportunities and enrichment activities; and provides assistance to our partner transportation agencies. The deadline for applying is March 8, 2012. See the job descriptions and access the online application here.

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Region Braces for Bay Bridge Closure Over Presidents Day Weekend  

MTC is working closely with Caltrans to alert the public to a planned closure of the westbound deck of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge over Presidents Day weekend in February. The closure will allow Caltrans to shift traffic to a new detour at the Oakland end of the new Bay Bridge East Span. The near-term pain for motorists caused by the long-weekend road closure will translate to big gains down the road, as the detour will expedite work on completion of the East Span touchdown and accelerate the full opening of the new bridge.

Current plans for Presidents Day weekend call for the upper deck of the Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco to be closed from 8 p.m. Friday, February 17, to 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 21. Eastbound traffic will have full access to the bridge during the closure. Once the detour is in place, motorists approaching the bridge from Oakland will jog slightly to the south to access the upper deck, which leads to San Francisco.  

By moving traffic over, Caltrans can demolish a portion of the existing roadway that has been in the way of the new construction.

MTC and Caltrans are encouraging motorists to take public transit and/or alternate driving routes during the closure. MTC has been working with Caltrans to provide a range of transit options during the closure, including overnight BART service at select stations and additional ferries.

The Presidents Day weekend operation to connect the detour could be postponed in the event of rain. Get the latest construction and closure updates at BayBridgeInfo.org, and the latest information on transit and transportation options at 511.org.

See a simulation of the traffic shift in a news video posted to our site.

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The transition structure is visible to the left of the existing bridge. Copyright 2012, Barrie Rokeach

Here's another term to add to your transportation vocabulary: YBITS. It stands for the Yerba Buena Island Transition Structure, a supporting project for the new Bay Bridge East Span now under construction. While it may not be as glamorous as the main attraction on the new East Span--the self-anchored suspension span (SAS) with its soaring tower--YBITS nonetheless is an impressive enterprise in its own right, with its own particular set of engineering and logistical challenges. This crucial link will carry the side-by-side decks of the SAS to and through the double-deck tunnel at Yerba Buena Island. The heroic efforts of the crews working day and night to construct this little-understood portion of the East Span inspired MTC correspondent Mark Jones to create an old-fashioned newsreel to tell the story. View here.

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Caltrans is turning its attention briefly from the gritty aspects of drilling the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore through the East Bay hills to something more aesthetic--designing decorative medallions to sit atop the tunnel portals. And the public is invited to participate in the exercise.

Medallion on existing Caldecott Tunnel portal

The Caldecott Fourth Bore will have three "medallions" on each side of the tunnel. The Fourth Bore Medallion Design Competition will bring the East Bay communities together to inspire the design of these medallions.

"The portal structures of the Caldecott Tunnel are highly visible regional landmarks that proudly welcome motorists year after year," Caltrans notes in its solicitation.

Now through February 19, the public is invited to vote through an online survey to help choose the theme(s) that will be featured on the Fourth Bore medallions. Thematic choices include "Transportation Through Time," "East Bay Habitat" and "Classic Art Deco Revisited."

Once the theme(s) have been been selected, schoolchildren (K-12) in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will be invited to submit artwork. The three winning entries from each county will each inspire the design of a Fourth Bore medallion.

Meanwhile, crews are continuing excavation of the bench, or bottom portion, of the tunnel following breakthrough on the top portion in late November 2011. In fact, excavation is now over 50 percent complete. MTC is a funding partner for the Fourth Bore, which is also a federal stimulus project.

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Bike lockers at the North Berkeley BART station. Photo by Peter Beeler

It could be the best transportation bargain in the Bay Area. For a mere 3 cents an hour, you can park your bike securely at any of hundreds of secure electronic lockers at 26 stations in the BART system. In fact, the number of these lockers has more than doubled in recent months, thanks in part to a $300,000 grant from MTC's Safe Routes to Transit program. The grant helped BART install 336 new electronic lockers, bringing the total across the system to more than 500. To access the lockers, cyclists purchase a BikeLink card. Read more here.

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Art Exhibits Celebrate Black History Month

We are pleased to announce the opening of two art exhibits in honor of Black History Month during February.

Hold That Note, featuring the recent paintings of Ira Watkins, is on display through February 29, 2012, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays in the MetroCenter LunchStop Cafe and adjacent lobby area.

I Love My Family (Acrylic on Canvas by Larry Clark)

Larry Clark's paintings are featured in Southern Exposure, on exhibit through March 30, 2012, in the offices of the Association of Bay Area Governments and adjacent lobby area on the first floor of the MetroCenter (101 Eighth Street in Oakland). ABAG office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and lobby hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

All work is for sale; contact Brenda Kahn, Community Art Coordinator, at bkahn@mtc.ca.gov for more information.

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