TAKING IMMEDIATE ACTION FOR REGIONAL TRAFFIC RELIEF

The Bay Area Council has stepped up its efforts to implement a range of solutions that can be enacted in relatively short order to address the region’s growing traffic problem. The action comes on the heels of a 2014 Bay Area Council Poll results showing 71 percent of residents think the region is gripped by a traffic crisis. Council CEO Jim Wunderman met last week with California Transportation Secretary Brian Kelly and senior transportation officials to advocate for a range of solutions that include increasing the use of state-owned park and ride lots, promoting ride share technology and programs, modernizing obsolete ramp metering technology and enhancing ferry operations.

The Council also is working with a number of prominent Silicon Valley tech companies to focus on ways to employ technology solutions to ease congestion on the clogged Highway 101 corridor from San Francisco to San Jose. Based on findings from modeling about how different approaches reduce traffic, the Council will work with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to implement effective solutions and expand them to other congested commute corridors in the East Bay and throughout the region.

To engage in the Council’s transportation work, contact policy Vice President Michael Cunningham.