BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 157 Hearing Date: 7/7/2015
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|Author: |Levine |
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|Version: |6/25/2015 |
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|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Christine Hochmuth |
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SUBJECT: Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
DIGEST: This bill allows an environmental review to be
completed concurrently with the design work for a project
opening the third lane in each direction on the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Creates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) as
the transportation planning, coordinating, and financing
agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
2)Creates the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) to administer the
base $1 auto toll for the San Francisco Bay Area's seven
state-owned toll bridges. BATA operates under the same board
that governs MTC; however, they are separate entities. In
2005, BATA's responsibilities were expanded to include
administration of all toll revenues and joint oversight of the
toll bridge construction program along with the California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the California
Transportation Commission.
3)Requires state and local agencies, pursuant to the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), to identify significant
environmental impacts of discretionary projects and to avoid
or mitigate those impacts, if feasible. Lead agencies are
AB 157 (Levine) Page 2 of ?
required to prepare a negative declaration, mitigated negative
declaration, or environmental impact report (EIR) for the
project.
This urgency bill:
1)Authorizes MTC and Caltrans to complete the design work at the
same time as the environmental review for a project opening
the third lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to automobile
traffic on the eastbound level and to bicycle traffic on the
west bound level.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. According to the author, this bill is necessary to
reduce the amount of time to completion for the Richmond-San
Rafael Bridge project and therefore significantly reduce
commuter congestion.
Background. When the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge originally
opened in 1956 it served traffic in six 12-foot-wide lanes -
three lanes in both the eastbound and westbound directions. In
1977, a then-underutilized third lane was closed to allow for a
pipeline to transport water from the East Bay to Marin County.
In 1978, the pipeline was removed and the third lane was
restriped as an emergency shoulder. In 1989, following the Loma
Prieta earthquake and the closure of the San Francisco Bay
Bridge, the third lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was
opened in both directions for one month to help ease traffic
flow across the bay.
CEQA challenges. Environmental studies and design work for
projects are typically separated, but they needn't be. Lead
agencies can choose to "design-at-risk," meaning that design
work precedes environmental clearance, to shorten completion
time of projects. This strategy is not unheard of; however, it
can open the door to legal challenges under CEQA because it may
appear that the EIR is biased and tailored to fit a
pre-determined outcome, namely a finished design.
The circumstances surrounding the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge
project are different, as the newly proposed third traffic lane
has been open to vehicles in the past, so a design can be based
off this proven, previously functioning model.
AB 157 (Levine) Page 3 of ?
Necessity of the bill. In February, the BATA Oversight
Committee approved a contract for the completion of final plans
for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge project. These plans are to
occur concurrently with the effort to obtain project approval
and the environmental review activities. This recent action
shaves time off the project, which calls into question the
necessity of this bill and how it will actually help in
achieving the author's stated intent. However, supporters
believe that this bill will help the project to be further
expedited.
Double referred. This bill has also been referred to the Senate
Environmental Quality Committee.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 75-0
Trans: 15-0
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
July 1, 2015.)
SUPPORT:
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Bay Area Council
Bay Area Toll Authority
City of San Rafael
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers
North Bay Leadership Council
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California
Transportation Authority of Marin
United Contractors
OPPOSITION:
None received
AB 157 (Levine) Page 4 of ?
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