Support Smart Transportation in the Bay Area

Bay Area commuters spend a lot of time stuck in gridlock, ranking behind only Los Angeles in total hours lost in congestion. But local transportation planners have proposed an innovative new transportation program, San Francisco Bay Area Accelerate, designed to reduce gridlock and cut global warming pollution.

This innovative package earned San Francisco a slot as 1 of 9 finalist cities in the U.S. Department of Transportation's Urban Partnership Agreement program. Under this program, the U.S. Transportation Department will award $1.2 billion in federal funds to support projects that cut traffic congestion and pollution by better pricing and managing existing roads, improving transit, and supporting telework. The final awards will be announced any day.

The San Francisco Bay Area Accelerate program calls for congestion pricing to be implemented along Doyle Drive -- the road linking downtown San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The city also plans to adopt additional congestion pricing measures through a regional network of high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes focusing primarily on the areas of Silicon Valley and Tri-Valley/Sunol.

To supplement these pricing strategies and provide alternative commutes for drivers, bus rapid transit will be offered along several routes toward downtown and also along I-580. Additionally, bus routes into the city will be able to travel along transit-preferential streets that include traffic signal prioritization for transit, more accessible boarding areas, and transit-only lanes.

The city also seeks to employ a new "Smart" Parking Management program which would include a parking guidance system to direct drivers towards free spaces and dynamically priced parking which would charge higher fees for parking in premium spaces during busy hours.

Finally, San Francisco plans to update their traffic information system to give commuters real time traffic reports and help them avoid congested periods.

This plan is a big step in the right direction and we'd like to ask you to help send a message of thanks to key decision-makers.

Send message today.