AC TRANSIT DISTRICT Board of Directors
GM Memo No. 10-011 Meeting Date: February 24, 2010
Committees: Operations Committee External Affairs Committee Board of Directors
Planning Committee Finance and Audit Committee Financing Corporation
SUBJECT: Update on the Bay Bridge Corridor Congestion Study RECOMMENDED ACTION: Information Only
Briefing Item
Recommended Motion
Consider receiving report.
Fiscal Impact: No fiscal impact Background/Discussion: In September, 2009 the Board authorized the General Manager or his designee to transfer FTA Section 5339 funds granted in the 2007 Urban Partnership Agreement from the Grand MacArthur Alternatives Analysis to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority to conduct a Bay Bridge Corridor Congestion Study. Due to the budget shortfalls projected for the next several years, Planning staff proposed reducing service on the route that serves the GrandMacArthur corridor, which will likely lead to a reduction in the ridership, causing the Grand/MacArthur corridor to fall below the ridership thresholds necessary to qualify it as a Very Small Starts project. As a result, staff proposed to use the grant funds to complete the Bay Bridge Congestion Study. Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) also accepted the Bay Bridge Corridor Study as the prelude to a larger study that could lead to a contraflow lane on Bay Bridge. The contra flow lane project is also included in the vision element of the Alameda County long range plan. In early November 2009, the consultants under contract with the TJPA to conduct the study (Arup, Cambridge Systematics and LCW Consulting) held a kick-off meeting with all the stakeholders, including staff from TJPA, Caltrans, MTC, AC Transit, BART, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA). The Alameda Congestion Management Agency (ACCMA) was also invited to participate, although they did not attend the kick-off meeting. The work scope for the study is broken into two parts: the higher priority Bay Bridge AM westbound analysis, and a smaller analysis of afternoon street traffic on South of Market (SOMA) streets leading to the Bridge (the traffic routinely gridlocks downtown San Francisco
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GM Memo No. 10-011 Meeting Date: February 24, 2010 Page 2 of 3 and SFMTA is interested in identifying solutions to the problem). The scope for the Bridge AM study is well defined and is proceeding; the SOMA scope is more fluid and has not yet been finalized. The consultants have also developed a set of performance measures to be used in assessing the base-year traffic conditions and any proposed improvements. These measures have been reviewed and accepted by the stakeholders. The Bay Bridge Corridor AM Peak Period westbound measures are: Congestion: • Toll Plaza queue should not extend beyond the Distribution Structure (i.e. the MacArthur Maze) at any time. •
Total vehicle hours of delay in any alternative should not exceed the vehicle hours of delay in the base condition (years 2020/2035).
•
Total person hours of delay in any alternative should not exceed the person hours of delay in the base condition (years 2020/2035).
Transit Travel: • Transit speeds should average not less than 42 mph between Distribution Structure and Transbay Transit Center (TTC) (note: 7 miles @ 42 mph = 10 minute trip; 42 mph is 84% of posted speed limit) Transit Reliability: • No individual peak period transit trip should exceed 14 minutes between the Distribution Structure and TTC As of mid-February, the consultants have completed building the traffic simulation model of the Bay Bridge corridor from about two to five miles upstream of the toll plaza (e.g. from the I-80-580 junction, the 24-580-980 junction and I-880 at Jackson Street) all the way to San Francisco to just beyond the junction with the Central Freeway. The next steps are to study the traffic models developed by MTC, SFCTA and ACCMA and develop a median value for traffic assignment (taking the people volumes and turning them into auto counts). Once this has been done, working with the stakeholders, the consultant will test a range of possible measures (some physical, some operational) to identify methods to keep access to downtown San Francisco in the AM peak period. The consultants also continue to work with Caltrans and MTC to calibrate the traffic model and ensure that the stakeholders are well informed and that the study leads to tangible results. The project schedule calls for completion by the end of June with a final report. The project is currently on schedule.
GM Memo No. 10-011 Meeting Date: February 24, 2010 Page 3 of 3 Prior Relevant Board Actions/Policies: GM Memo 09-214: Transfer Federal funds from Grand MacArthur to Bay Bridge Corridor Study Attachments: None Approved by:
Mary V. King, Interim General Manager Nancy Skowbo, DGM Service Development
Prepared by:
Tina Spencer, Manager of Long Range Planning
Date Prepared:
Feb. 16, 2010
