Highways to Hell

On the remote chance Bay Area commuters weren’t aware how awful their commutes are, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission this week released some data to drive home the point. MTC’s annual list of Top 10 worst commute corridors ranked the Bay Bridge as the worst, followed by the I-80 stretch north to Hercules from the Bay Bridge and the segment of Highway 101 through Silicon Valley. The ranking highlights the importance of defeating Prop. 6 on the November ballot and preserving $52 billion in planned investments statewide to improve bridges, roads and highways and help ease traffic. A story in the East Bay Times and Mercury News on the ranking also cited data from the Bay Area Council that shows how the region’s housing shortage is contributing to the gridlock by forcing workers on longer and longer commutes as they search for affordable housing far from job centers. See the Council’s full list of ballot measure endorsements for the November election.