Massive Counter-Attack Ends Brief Spring at MTC
04/27/11 Filed in: MTC | Transportation
Planning
In a blow to the very
heart of the transportation planning process, the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted today to
preserve the longstanding dominance of local politics
in the allocation of funds for transportation
projects in the Bay Area. The shortage of funds due
to the economic crisis had led MTC staff to propose a
revision to the Commission’s Committed Projects
Policy, so as to enable the MTC’s Regional
Transportation Plan to be more effective. The policy
essentially cemented in past project approvals, so
that those decisions would never be reconsidered.
Because MTC’s RTP process has been to staple together
the wish lists of the various counties of the region,
this has meant that project selection was primarily
occurring at the local or county level.
The problem with this is that local solutions do not work when aggregated together at the regional scale. Local transportation plans assume that their residents will travel largely by automobile. However, when these residents leave their respective counties, it has not been possible to furnish adequate regional infrastructure. The extremely high cost of widening existing highways, along with the lack of physical space to do so without even more expensive condemnation of existing residences and businesses, has resulted in massive congestion throughout the region. Read More...
The problem with this is that local solutions do not work when aggregated together at the regional scale. Local transportation plans assume that their residents will travel largely by automobile. However, when these residents leave their respective counties, it has not been possible to furnish adequate regional infrastructure. The extremely high cost of widening existing highways, along with the lack of physical space to do so without even more expensive condemnation of existing residences and businesses, has resulted in massive congestion throughout the region. Read More...
Briefs filed in HSR Challenge
04/25/11 Filed in: High-Speed
Rail
Briefing has commenced
in the challenge to the EIR for the High-Speed Rail
connection between the Bay Area and the Central
Valley. Plaintiffs filed their Opening Briefs today.
The case has been divided into two parts:
Atherton
I is a
continuation of the challenge to the 2008 EIR by the
Town of Atherton, the City of Menlo Park, the
Planning and Conservation League, the California Rail
Foundation, and the Transportation Solutions Defense
and Education Fund (TRANSDEF). Atherton II
is a new lawsuit
challenging the legality of the revised EIR by the
City of Palo Alto, the Community Coalition on
High-Speed Rail, Mid-Peninsula Residents for Civic
Sanity, and Pat Giorni. The current schedule is that
the two cases will be heard together on August 12 in
Sacramento. The briefs are available here:
Atherton I
Atherton I (Declaration of Elizabeth Alexis)
Atherton II
Atherton II (CC-HSR)
Read More...
Atherton I
Atherton I (Declaration of Elizabeth Alexis)
Atherton II
Atherton II (CC-HSR)
Read More...