BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1061
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Date of Hearing: June 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 1061 (Hancock) - As Amended: May 25, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 23-11
SUBJECT : San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge tolls:
bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance pathway
SUMMARY : Explicitly authorizes the use of future toll bridge
revenue for a bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance pathway project on
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the use of toll bridge revenues to fund a
bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance pathway from the eastern span
of the bridge to San Francisco, across the western span of the
bridge; conditions the use of the funds on the project being
included in the adopted regional transportation plan.
2)Specifically provides that the pathway may include capacity
for maintenance vehicles so long as doing so does not lower
the bridge's height above the shipping channel.
3)Prior to approving the project and authorizing construction,
the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA), which is controls toll
bridge revenue, must make a finding that the pathway does not
fundamentally alter the profile of the bridge.
4)Prohibits BATA from increasing tolls to fund the project.
EXISTING LAW :
5)Establishes the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC),
the metropolitan planning organization and regional
transportation planning agency for the nine-county Bay Area,
and vests it with the responsibility for transportation
planning, coordinating, and financing for the San Francisco
Bay Area.
6)Establishes the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) as an
independent legal entity governed by the board of MTC. BATA
sets the tolls, manages, and invests the toll revenues from
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the seven Bay Area state-owned toll bridges.
7)Vests BATA with the responsibility to fund the day-to-day
operations, maintenance, and administration of the bridges.
8)Authorizes BATA to use toll revenues to pay service on bonds
issued to pay the cost of the seismic retrofit program and the
voter-approved Regional Measure 1 and Regional Measure 2,
long-term transportation capital improvement programs for
transportation facilities in the travel corridors serving the
bridges.
9)Requires BATA to set toll schedules as necessary to ensure
bond obligations are met.
FISCAL EFFECT : Estimated cost of a
bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance pathway on the western span of
the bridge is approximately $500 million (in 2007 dollars); no
increases in tolls allowed for this project but BATA may use
existing toll revenue.
COMMENTS : BATA was created by SB 226 (Kopp), Chapter 328,
Statutes of 1997, to administer the base $1 toll on the Bay
Area's seven state-owned toll bridges and to oversee the
Regional Measure 1 program. AB 144 (Hancock), Chapter 71,
Statutes of 2005, expanded BATA's responsibilities to include
administration of all toll revenue and joint oversight of the
toll bridge construction program.
Tolls on the seven Bay Area bridges are collected manually or
electronically in one direction. For the typical automobile, a
$4 toll is collected - a $1 base toll, $1 for Regional Measure 2
and a $2 seismic retrofit surcharge. (Multi-axle vehicles pay a
higher base toll.) The toll rate for the bridges is scheduled
to increase to five dollars on July 1, 2010 and revenue from the
increase (estimated at $165 million annually) will be used to
seismically retrofit the Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges.
Increased tolls will also be used to offset the increased cost
of debt financing resulting from the financial market turmoil
that began in 2007 and to counter revenue declines caused by a
decline in toll-paying traffic on the bridges over the past
several years.
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Regarding the bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance pathway, MTC and
the Department of Transportation completed a study in 2001 to
evaluate building the facility on the west span of the bridge.
The pathway would be a continuation of the bicycle/pedestrian
pathway designed for the east span of the bridge. The purpose
of the study was to determine if adding a pathway facility to
the existing west span structure is technically feasible and to
develop a cost estimate for such a facility.
The study established the project's feasibility but with two
important constraints: the bridge's existing vertical clearance
over the shipping channel cannot be decreased and, because the
bridge qualifies for listing in the National Register of
Historic Places, the addition of the pathway cannot change the
profile of the bridge. SB 1061 accommodates these two
constraints.
In July 2008, MTC pledged to fully fund, with exceptions, a
Regional Bikeway Network--a 2,140-mile, comprehensive network of
bicycle routes to connect every Bay Area community and to
provide connections to regional transit, major activity centers,
and central business districts. The exception to MTC's funding
pledge is the toll bridge links. It is unclear how much, if
any, toll bridge funds will reasonably be available to fund this
project once previous commitments are satisfied.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AGAPE Design
Association of Bay Area Governments
Bay Area Bicycle Coalition
Bay Localize
Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition
Breathe California
California Association of Bicycling Organizations
California Bicycle Coalition
Citizens for East Shore Parks
East Bay Bicycle Coalition
Ecocity Builders
Friends of Bus Rapid Transit
Friends of the Earth
Grizzly Peak Cyclists
Marin County Bicycle Coalition
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Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates
San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
San Francisco Bay Trail Project
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Sierra Club California
TransForm
WALKSacramento
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093