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High School Internship Program Accepting Applications
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A retired SF Railway car provided a great photo opp
for a previous group of high school interns.
Photo by Craig Raphael
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There's still time to apply for MTC's summer High School Internship Program, which is recruiting for approximately 38 positions in local transit agencies and public works departments throughout the nine-county Bay Area.
The paid internships are part-time or full-time for up to 10 weeks during June, July and August. The intent is to promote interest in transportation as a potential career, provide skill-building opportunities and assist MTC's partner transportation agencies. The deadline for applications is Feb. 28, 2013. Review the job description, desired skills and online application here.
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Ferry Flap Sign Makes a Splash
 What's black and white and "read" all over? The new ferry flap sign at the San Francisco Ferry Building, which was unveiled earlier this month. Ferry riders and other visitors are mesmerized by the rhythmic flapping of the metal panels as they rotate within the retro mechanical sign, which is driven by a CPU hooked up to the Internet and displays departure times for seven ferry lines offered by three operators. Specially made for its location in the Ferry Building, the sign is part of MTC's Hub Signage Program, which is installing better way-finding signage, maps and real-time schedule displays in 24 busy transit crossroads around the region. Measuring eight feet wide and weighing 700 pounds, the sign is designed to blend in with the Ferry Building's period architecture and evokes nostalgia for a bygone era when such signs were ubiquitous in train stations and airports around the world.
We're expecting that the flap sign will become a popular meeting spot. To start this new tradition, we've produced a postcard with an image of the sign and the message "Meet me by the flap sign." You can pick one up from our Library or reception desk, or at the Bay Crossings store in the Ferry Building (while supplies last). Read more about the flap sign and watch it in action at www.mtc.ca.gov/flapsign. And see a news video on the Hub Signage program here.
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511 Celebrates Tenth Birthday 
511, the region's award-winning one-stop traveler information service, recently celebrated 10 years of assisting millions of residents and visitors
with navigating Bay Area transit systems and bicycle lanes, get real-time traffic info, find carpools and parking spaces, and other traveler assistance.
During its decade-long run, 511 has continued to evolve with enhanced services and now provides up-to-the-minute traveler information via the phone, web, by text, a mobile site and, most recently, with a smartphone app. With over 4 million requests monthly, 511 is also a valuable information source during emergencies as well as for major events, including the upcoming America's Cup and freeway or bridge closures.
511's newest feature is the Enhanced Trip Planner, now in beta testing. The tool provides door-to-door directions and provides a unique side-by-side cost and time comparison of using transit, driving or a combination of both. Go to 511.org and click on "Enhanced Planner Beta" in the navigation bar to try it out.
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One Bay Area Website Gets a Makeover
 The go-to site for Plan Bay Area, the integrated long-range transportation and land-use/housing plan for the San Francisco Bay Area, recently got a makeover. Visit OneBayArea.org to see the new and improved features of the website, designed to make your browsing experience more enjoyable and navigation more intuitive. The joint website of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and MTC serves as a clearinghouse for information and updates on multi-agency collaborative efforts and programs.
Website highlights include: - A carousel at the top of the home page for important notices, new content and other items of interest;
- Links at the top of each page to view the material in Chinese and Spanish;
- Top transportation news headlines in a gray bar on the left side of the home page;
- A new Plan Bay Area button at the top right of each page that acts as a shortcut to Plan Bay Area materials; and
- A new interactive feature on the home page for quizzes, polls and topical questions.
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Workers stand near the Caldecott Tunnel
Fourth Bore breakthrough.
Photo by Karl Nielsen
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Caldecott "Tunnel Vision" Photo Exhibit Now Showing
The "Tunnel Vision" exhibit, featuring photographs of the ongoing work to drill a fourth bore through the East Bay's Caldecott Tunnel, just finished a run at the Orinda Library Gallery that will be followed by a two-month run beginning in mid-March at the Lafayette Library. Among others, the exhibit features photos of a giant roadheader as it rips through a dirt wall and miners working next to a 10-million-year-old rock vein as it snakes along the inside tunnel walls that have been untouched by man for millions of years. The show originated on MTC's walls and is now on the road.
To check times and dates to visit the exhibit go to the project site.Back to top
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Bay Bridge Light Sculpture Arrives March 5
The Bay Lights project will have its Grand Lighting on March 5, 2013, but already onlookers are being dazzled by the testing of the kinetic installation illuminating the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. A total of 25,000 white lights have been strung on suspension cables along the north side of the bridge, and are being programmed to create an abstract moving pattern across the side facing outward toward San Francisco. The fine-art light "sculpture" will not be visible to motorists, but is expected to be seen by 50 million viewers from the waterfront or by boats traveling north of the bridge over the course of its two-year tenure.
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The Bay Light Sculpture set the Bay aglow during a test-run in February.
Photo by Brenda Kahn
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The complex display is the work of artist Leo Villareal, whose best-known project is "Multiverse," with 41,000 LED lights in the tunnel that connects two wings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Intended to be a one-year project, it has been up for four years now and has been made permanent. MTC's Bay Area Toll Authority helped secure permits and environmental clearance for the Bay Lights project, which celebrates the bridge's 75th anniversary and the debut of the new Bay Bridge East Span in September 2013. For complete information, go to thebaylights.org.
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Get Smart at Parking Symposium
A Smart Parking Symposium is slated for March 18-19, 2013, at the David Brower Center in Berkeley. Sponsored by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), in partnership with ITS California, Caltrans and the Green Parking Council Building, with co-sponsorship by MTC, the forum will cover the latest in smart parking technology, its application in the public space, and the environmental and economic impacts of smart parking programs.
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New on YouTube 
Newsman Mark Jones takes us deep inside the new Bay Bridge East Span to the splay chamber where the suspension cables anchor. View this and more on our website or YouTube page.
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