Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
ITE Western District (Western United States)
San Francisco Bay Area Section
Institute of Transportation Engineers,
San Francisco Bay Area Section
On November 17, 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) and the South Bay Transportation Officials Association (SBTOA) held their joint lunch meeting at the Michael's At Shoreline restaurant in Mountain View. The meeting focused on express lanes in the Bay Area. The topic of the meeting was Express Lanes in the Bay Area- Operational & Planned. There were 82 people in attendance. Kamala Parks, the new President of the SFBayITE started the meeting by announcing that the ITE Western District conference which will be held in Santa Barbara in June of 2012.
The Gold Sponsor of today's meeting, Sensys Networks, and the Silver Sponsor, TY Lin International, were introduced. Mousa Abbasi introduced the meeting speaker, Mr. Murali Ramanujam, from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, who presented both presentations.
In the first presentation, I-680 Express Lanes, Murali provided an update on the operations of I-680 Express Lanes, which opened one year ago. The I-680 Express Lane is the Bay Area’s first express lane project, which opened on September 20, 2010. It stretches for 14 miles on I-680 in southbound direction over the Sunol Grade. It was converted from a HOV lane to a HOT Lane, which starts at Highway 84 in the north and ends at Route 237 in the south. He provided an overview of the I-680 Express Lane, which met the first year revenue projections. He then provided operations data through the first fourteen months, following with charts showing year by year comparison, weekly gross revenue, weekly gross trips, gross revenue by day, 2011-2012 revenue trend, typical daily revenue, typical daily trips by hour, peak period averages, average toll rate by hour, vehicle count by trip frequency, toll rate frequency, and finally enforcement summary by CHP.
He concluded by indicating the additional traffic studies that will be done including the evaluation of ingress/egress points to be coordinated with MTC traffic study and automated enforcement modified design with multiple camera sites.
The second presentation, SR 237 Express Lanes, was an update on the SR 237/I-880 Express Connectors project that is expected to open early in 2012. The SR 237/I-880 Express Connectors project is part of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program which also consists of US101/SR 85 corridor. He provided some background information including VTA Ad Hoc Financial Stability Committee Recommendation, Legislative Authority, VTA Feasibility Study, SR 85 & US 101 Preliminary Engineering (PE) and Public Outreach, Recommendation for Implementation Plan, and SR 237/I-880 Project Initiation. He indicated that the reasons the express lanes are proposed in Santa Clara County are to increase efficiency of existing roadways, to provide commuters with new options, and finally it is a source of revenue generation for needed improvements including transit. He then talked about the proposed signage, hours of operation, and proposed schedule. It is anticipated that the installation and testing of electronic toll system will happen in January/February 2012 and it will be open to traffic in February/ March 2012. He also discussed how the toll revenues are planned to be used.
The meeting concluded with questions and answers with the panel.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
October 2011
On October 20, 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held its monthly meeting at the DeVry University/Keller School of Management in Downtown Oakland. The topic of the meeting was "California High Speed Rail - Opportunities &s Challenges". The meeting panel provided a project update, including opportunities and challenges to its implementation. There were 58 people in attendance. Kamala Parks, the new President of the SFBayITE started the meeting. She announced that the nominations for the SF Bay ITE Professional of the Year Award and for the Transportation Project of the Year Award are due to Mr. Amit Kothari (SFBayITE Awards Chair) by November 14, 2011. She then introduced Mr. Bill Nichols of National Data & Surveying Services (NDS), who sponsored this meeting. Mr. Nichols spoke briefly about their services which include traffic data collection.
Mousa Abbasi, the new Vice President, introduced the first speaker, Mr. Randy Rentschler, Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)'s Director of Legislation and Public Affairs, whose presentation was titled "California High Speed Rail: update and MTC's role in the planning of the project in the Bay Area". He started his presentation by indicating that there are 7 million residents, 3.1 million jobs, 9 counties, and 26 public transit operators in the Bay Area. MTC has allocated over $1.4 billion to Caltrain over the past 30 years. Peninsula is loaded with wealth creating transportation infrastructure. The Bay Area labor market is experiencing a stronger recovery than most of California, but is still lagging behind the rest of the nation. The next big step will be California High Speed Rail. Since the high-speed rail is about connecting large metropolitan areas, the critical decision is focusing on the proper city pairs. High speed rail will be an alternative to congested air travel, and will provide clean electric transportation.
The second speaker was Mr. Brock Winstead, District Director and representative from Senator Joe Simitian's office, presenting "HSR and Caltrain: A Blended Approach". He explained that what his office is asking is that the HSR between San Francisco and San Jose to stay within the Caltrain right-of-way, with no elevated structures, and to restrict EIR to a more modest project. He then explained that what their office is not asking for is switching to Caltrain in San Jose, running only one HSR train per day, not extending to the Transbay Terminal, and shutting the door to future construction. He indicated that it might not always be possible to stay within existing right-of-way, and some communities prefer above-grade structures as their best option. He concluded that the goals are to respond to pressing community concerns, while saving time and money.
The third speaker was Ms. Marian Lee, Executive Officer for Planning and Development at Caltrain. Her presentation was titled, "Caltrain plans and projects that benefit high speed rail implementation". She discussed the Caltrain Modernization Program and its focus areas, which include projects such as Caltrain Electrification and Advanced Signal Upgrade. She talked about coordinated planning with HSR and other stakeholders. She also talked about the system from San Jose to Transbay Terminal, supporting both Caltrain and HSR, utilizing existing right of way and tracks, minimizing impacts to communities while lowering project cost. She then discussed the Caltrain capacity analysis, and if the "blended system" concept is feasible. She discussed multiple considerations, such as operation, infrastructure, cost (capital & operation), ridership, Prop 1A requirements, and CEQA/NEPA requirements. She then talked about the scope of work, including building a simulation model (Main Line and Terminals). She discussed the preliminary findings, which suggest that the "blended system" concept has merit, and there is a potential for up to 10 trains / hour / direction during peak periods. Additional rail service simulations are still needed, and the next steps will be design (passing tracks location, grade crossings upgrades/separations/closures, system upgrades) and project cost estimate. The meeting concluded with questions and answers with the panel. The next SF Bay ITE section meeting will be a joint meeting with SBTOA on November 17, 2011 in Mountain View. Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
September 2011
On September 15, 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SF Bay ITE) held its monthly meeting at Sinbad's Pier 2 Restaurant in San Francisco. The topic of the meeting was "34th America's Cup - Race, Economy, and Transportation," which focused on the preparations for the America's Cup, an international yacht race to be held in the San Francisco Bay in the summer of 2013. The meeting was sponsored by Iteris. The meeting began with a presentation by Dalene Whitlock, who currently serves as ITE International Director. Dalene spoke about the purpose, organization, and strategic plan of ITE. The strategic plan includes student initiatives, career development, technical excellence, social/networking, and promoting the profession. Following the presentation, the newly elected Board Members - President Kamala Parks, Vice President Mousa Abbasi, and Secretary Tiffany Barkley - were sworn in. New President Kamala Parks made numerous announcements:
- Nominations are currently being accepted for San Francisco Bay Area Project and Professional of the year. The awards ceremony will be held in January. E-mail nominations to amit.kothari@sfmta.com by Monday, October 31.
- Western District ITE is currently seeking a new Legislative Chair. More information will be provided via e-mail.
- The Annual Picnic with SF Bay ITE, APWA, ASCE, and SBTOA will be held in San Jose on Wednesday, September 28. RSVP by Friday, September 23 on siliconvalley.awpa.net.
- SBTOA is hosting a tour of the Bay Bridge Seismic Safety Project on Friday, September 23. RSVP by Friday, September 16 to sbtoa@gmail.com.
- UC Berkeley ITE is seeking sponsorships and donations in the form of monthly general meeting sponsors, annual banquet sponsors, Cal ITE t-shirt fund, field trip fund, and ITE Annual Meeting fund. Contact student chapter President Thomas Wong at thomaswong@berkeley.edu for more information.
- A RFP for the redesign of the SF Bay ITE website will be released on Monday, September 19.
June 2011
On June 20th, the section held its Annual Business Meeting at Elephant and Castle in San Francisco. 76 people were in attendance to hear the program on Complete Streets, Sustainable Communities, and Safe, Active Transportation. The meeting began with a Student Appreciation announcement. Murali Ramanujam presented Stephanie Chow and Alvin Sarmiento, both of San Jose State University (SJSU), with plaques for their efforts at reactivating the ITE student chapter at SJSU. Other announcements were made for the upcoming ITE/APWA Golf Tournament, to be held on July 15, 2011, and the Annual Western District meeting in Alaska on July 10th-13th.
Following the student recognitions, the Annual Business Meeting featured three presenters speaking on the theme of "Complete Streets, Sustainable Communities, and Safe, Active Transportation". John Sighamony, Senior Transportation Planner for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), gave a talk entitled "SB-375 (Sustainable Communities Strategies) for Local Agencies". VTA is unique in that it is both a transit operator and a Congestion Management Agency, and Mr. Sighamony shared the agency's strategies on encouraging sustainable communities, which include Express Lanes, Bus Rapid Transit, and the potential adoption of a Complete Streets Program. The second presentation was given by Meghan Wier, an epidemiologist with the San Francisco Department of Public Health who specializes in health impact assessments of transportation projects. In her presentation, entitled "Transportation Policy is Health Policy", she discussed the aspects of health that are impacted by transportation projects, such as the ability to walk, bike, and play safely, noise and air quality levels, and equitable access to transportation facilities. She described a number of tools available for performing health impact assessments, and detailed her agency's development of a Pedestrian Injury Collision Forecasting Model used to identify high-risk corridors and meet the target of reducing San Francisco's 800 annual pedestrian injuries by 50% in 10 years. The final presentation was given by John LaPlante, Director of Traffic Engineering at T.Y. Lin. Mr. LaPlante's presentation, entitled "Complete Streets: Who Benefits and Who Pays" focused on debunking a number of the myths impeding the implementation of Complete Streets. Given that one-third of Americans do not drive, Complete Streets are those that accommodate all modes that want to use the facility. While there is no single design solution for Complete Streets, Mr. LaPlante described a number of location-specific ideas for improving multimodal access, such as reducing lane widths on arterials, adding landscaping, installing pedestrian countdown clocks, and timing signals to the speed that you want vehicles to travel.
To conclude the Annual Business Meeting, Shruti Malik, current section president, announced the election results and welcomed the new SF Bay Area ITE Elected Officers for the upcoming year. The new board members are: Kamala Parks, President; Mousa Abbasi, Vice President; Jia Hao Wu, Treasurer; and Tiffany Barkley, Secretary.
April 2011
On April 14, 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held a joint monthly meeting with the Northern California Chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) and the International Chinese Transportation Professionals Association (ICTPA). 46 people were in attendance at this meeting, which was held at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority's office. The format of the meeting was a lively panel discussion on engaging diverse communities in the transportation decision making process. The panel was moderated by Debra Jones, a native San Franciscan who has worked at both SFMTA and AC Transit, and is now an Environmental Protection Specialist for the Federal Transit Administration in Sacramento. The panel consisted of Robert Lee, Manager of the Local Government and Community Relations Division of BART; Lysa Hale, Project Consultant for the Clipper Program for MTC; and Brajah Norris, External Affairs Manager for the Central Subway Project for SFMTA.
On the ITE side, the meeting began with an announcement from section president Shruti Malik about the upcoming section elections. Specifically, the section is looking for Secretary candidates. The election ends June 15, 2011. Section co-scribe Tiffany Barkley announced that the section is looking for a new co-scribe. Co-scribes are responsible for taking notes at monthly meetings. Following announcements, the panel discussion began with introductions from each of the panel members, followed by a question and answer session.
Mr. Lee gave an overview of current happenings at BART, which include the extension to Warm Springs from the Fremont Station and the need to replace the current fleet, which has been operating since the 1970s. Ms. Hale described the Clipper Program, which has instituted a smart payment card accepted by 7 transit agencies around the Bay Area. Mr. Norris introduced SFMTA's Central Subway Project, which is a 1.7 mile extension of the underground T Third Line from the Caltrain Station through Union Square to China Town. At 1.57 billion dollars, it is SFMTA's largest capital investment project in 50 years.
The discussion centered around the topics of assessing project impacts on diverse and underrepresented communities and effectively engaging these communities in the stakeholder process. BART performs an equity analysis for every project, which considers the impacts to minority and low income communities. They also hold meetings in these communities to gather feedback on fares, accessibility, and amenities. To locate these communities, they use census data from the project's vicinity. They then consult with local groups about the most effective ways to perform outreach in each community. One lesson that the agency has learned over time is the importance of ensuring that food purchased for meetings is culturally-appropriate. The Clipper deployment was an operations project, not an infrastructure project, so the challenges are different. Because the Clipper Card accounts for fare discount rules across agencies, it can be complicated to use. As such, the focus is on communicating Clipper instructions (how to use, how to add money, how to add discounts, etc) with those who cannot access the website or who have limited English proficiency. Here, it has become apparent that translating instructional materials from English is not sufficient, because of the subtle differences in tone and meaning between different languages. Instead, the program has native speakers write materials. Ms. Hale also discussed the ways that the Clipper program has leveraged the expertise of the outreach staff of partner transit agencies, who are accustomed to dealing with these challenges. For the Central Subway Project, SFMTA has employed a number of tools. Since the project largely impacts Chinatown, they distribute materials in multiple Chinese dialects. They also contract with local community-based organizations to help distribute messages and obtain feedback, and use a social media program to further inform the public. They have also found the benefit in not just communicating with local communities, but also employing them in the project. To this end, the agency set up a meeting to allow local minority contractors to meet with large prime firms to seek partnering opportunities.
The next monthly meeting, which will host the winners of the student paper competition, will be held on Thursday, May 19th.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Tiffany Barkley for this report.
March 2011
On March 17th, 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBay ITE) held a joint monthly meeting with ITS-CA at Devry University in Oakland. 37 people were in attendance. The theme of the meeting was Automated Enforcement. Kamala Parks, the section vice president, began the meeting with some announcements. The section is holding its fourth annual Transportation Modeling Conference on April 1st at SFMTA. Kamala also announced the upcoming elections for new section officers.
The first presentation was given by Lieutenant Kevin Davis of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), who spoke about automated enforcements from the law enforcement perspective. Lieutenant Davis is an expert in the estimation of speed limits, automated speed enforcement, and red light camera systems. According to Lieutenant Davis, the goal of automated enforcement from the law enforcement perspective is to change driver behavior to save lives. CHP supports automated enforcement only when it is fair, supplemental to officer deployments, and allows enforcement where otherwise not possible (for example, a bridge with no shoulders). The decision of where automated enforcement is deployed is data-driven, and accuracy is of critical concern when deploying enforcement technologies. Lieutenant Davis discussed the need for early and comprehensive media campaigns so that motorists are not surprised by the deployments, and advises cities to avoid the topic of revenue generation. He discussed three specific types of automated enforcement: (1) red light camera systems, which CHP operates in Sacramento and Los Angeles; (2) automated speed enforcement, which is not authorized in California; and (3) automated occupancy enforcement, which is being tested on I-15 in San Diego.
The second presentation was given by Julie Dixon from Serco. Serco is an international provider of management services to government agencies, and transportation is one of their specialties. Serco has been operating San Francisco's parking program since the early 1990s, and was awarded the management of SFPark, which is San Francisco's project to incorporate new parking management technologies and approaches. Parking technologies in urbanized areas are changing rapidly. In many locations, parking is too expensive to make quarters feasible. San Francisco currently lets drivers pay for parking with credit cards or with SF smart parking cards. Revenue has increased by 50% since San Francisco implemented an integrated parking system; the city made $37.5 million dollars off of parking last year. Serco built a backend database that all vendors tie into, so that the city knows exactly which meter each penny came from, which helps them make decisions on changing meter hours or pricing. The next step of SFPark is demand-based pricing, which will involve the integration of traffic data into the parking data warehouse.
The next SFBay ITE monthly meeting will be held on April 14th in San Francisco.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Tiffany Barkley for this report.
February 2011
On February 17, 2011, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBay ITE) held a joint monthly meeting with the South Bay Traffic Officials Association (SBTOA) at the Silver Dragon Restaurant in Oakland. 31 people attended the meeting, whose theme was Statewide Legislation and Transportation. Shruti Malik, the section president, began the meeting with an announcement for SFBay ITE's 4th Annual Transportation Modeling Workshop, which will be held on April 1st at SFMTA in San Francisco. In other news, Advancing Women in Transportation (WTS) will be holding their annual meeting at the Hyatt Embarcadero in San Francisco on May 18-20th. Pat Gibson, who is running for ITE's International Board of Directors, was in attendance, and encouraged all members to vote in the upcoming June elections.
The meeting's technical presentation was given by Lezlie Kimura Szeto, who is the air pollution specialist for the local government outreach group of the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Eliot Rose from UC Berkeley was also slated to present, but was unable to attend the meeting. Ms. Sveto presented on "Sustainable Communities for Sustainable States", and focused on CARB's efforts to direct local governments in implementing SB 375. Implementation of SB 375 is a three phase process. The first phase, which has just been completed, sets emission reduction targets for each MPO. The second phase is the planned development phase, in which each MPO comes up with a sustainable development strategy to help them meet their emission reduction target. The third phase offers incentives for implementation of the planned strategies. Ms. Szeto discussed the challenges of having SB 375 be only incentive-based, rather than a sanction or a mandate. Already, however, MPOs have greatly improved their analytical planning tools to prepare for the implementation phase. For example, travel demand models have improved, travel surveys have been refined, and MPOs are beginning to develop and monitor performance indicators to track their progress is meeting targets.
The next monthly meeting will held jointly with ITS-CA on March 17th at Devry University in Oakland.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Tiffany Barkley for this report.
November 2010
On November 18, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held a joint monthly meeting with the South Bay Traffic Officials Association (SBTOA) at the Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant in San Jose. The theme of the meeting was Rail Projects in the South Bay. Shruti Malik, the section president, began the meeting with some announcements. ITE members can now nominate people and projects up to November 29, 2010 through the Annual Recognitions Awards. Additionally, the section now has a LinkedIn Group which can be found by going to www.LinkedIn.com and searching for SF Bay ITE under groups.
The first technical presentation was given by Mr. Ben Tripousis, who is the Transportation Policy Manager for the City of San Jose and the project manager for the High Speed Rail (HSR) project through San Jose. He discussed the evolving plans for 20 miles of HSR line through San Jose, and the impact that this would have on the city's economy and community. While the Central Valley section of HSR is the first to be shovel-ready, Mr. Tripousis considers the stretch between the Central Valley and San Jose to be Phase 1B, to serve as California's gateway to the Bay Area. The final project will connect between San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, Los Angeles, and Anaheim, with a travel time of 2 hours between San Jose and Los Angeles. From the city's perspective, one goal of the project is to turn San Jose's Diridon station into a world-class transit hub with a quality design that fits into the fabric of the community. The city is also evaluating alternatives for attractive and non-intrusive designs of the railway itself, and is currently considering an aerial railway to avoid potential conflicts with the new BART tunnel and to deliver an attractive design.
The second technical presentation was given by Mr. Henry Servin with the City of San Jose, who spoke about the BART extension into Silicon Valley. So far, $900 million has been spent on the extension to acquire right-of-way and downtown property. The estimated total cost of the BART extension from Fremont to San Jose is $5.2 billion. The completed line will serve an estimated 99,000 daily riders. The first phase of the project is to extend BART by 6 miles from Fremont to Warm Springs, which is estimated to be complete by 2014. The next phase will extend the line an additional 10 miles to Berryessa by 2018. The final phase will ideally connect Berryessa with downtown San Jose and Santa Clara. One of the technical challenges of the first phase is constructing a subway tunnel to go beneath Lake Elizabeth. From a station design perspective, project managers are hoping to give each of the new stations along the line a unique theme- Environment and Natural Setting for the Berryessa station, Diversity for Alum Rock station, and Creativity for the Diridon station.
ITE monthly meetings will resume in 2011.
October 2010
On October 14, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held a joint meeting with American Planning Association (APA) at the Caltrans District 4 Headquarters in Oakland. The topic of the meeting was "Sustainable Communities Strategies for Transportation and Land Use". There were 70 people in attendance.
Shruti Malik, the SFBayITE section President, started the meeting. After the self-introductions and announcements the first presentation was made by Ann Cheng, with Transform. Ann, who is the Director of Green TRIP (Traffic Reduction + Innovative Parking) Certification Program, presented the highlights of this program, which rewards residential in-fill projects that help reduce traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. To get certification, developments must be located near transit stations in walkable neighborhoods and apply traffic-reduction strategies such as offering discounted transit passes or car-sharing memberships to residents. The Green TRIP Certification Program eases the project approval process, increases project's marketability, creates markets and demand for Transportation Demand Management (TDM) programs, and is a model for inspiring changes to local policies. The minimum criteria for a residential development to participate in this program is:
- Primarily multi-family housing, with some mixed use
- Maximum of 20% single family homes
- Density at least 20 units/acre
- Size is at least 50 homes
- Within urban growth boundaries
The second presentation was made by Andrea Osgood, Project Developer, with Eden Housing, Inc., in which she discussed the affordable housing criteria and the proposed South Hayward BART development. This is a residential development which is approved for the Green TRIP Certification and is going through public processes and design review. The funding for this affordable housing project is through Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and Infill Infrastructure grant programs.
The next SF Bay ITE section meeting will be held on November 18, 2010 in San Jose.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
September 2010
On September 16, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SF Bay ITE) held its monthly meeting at Osha Thai Restaurant in San Francisco. There were 55 people in attendance. The theme of the meeting was "From Vision to Groundbreaking: Transit Projects in the Bay Area". Nate Chanchareon, the Past President for the section, began the meeting with the swearing-in of the new section Board Members for the upcoming year. The new elected Board Members are: Shruti Malik, President; Kamala Parks, Vice President; Mousa Abbasi, Treasurer; and Jia Hao Wu, Secretary. Following the swearing-in, Mark Spencer, the Chair of the 2010 Local Arrangements Committee, was presented with a shadowbox of memories from the very successful Western District ITE Meeting held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco last June. Nate was then presented with the Past Presidents Plaque.
The first technical presentation was given by Jim Cunradi, the BRT Project Manager at AC Transit. Mr. Cunradi, whose presentation was titled "Whose Vision is it Anyway: How the Public Influences Transit Projects for Good and Bad", described the ongoing public influence on plans for the East Bay BRT Project. The proposed BRT line, which is to replace the system's most heavily-traveled bus line through 15 miles of San Leandro, Oakland, and Berkeley, has seen strong public input from a variety of stakeholders, including merchants in Oakland and Berkeley, motorists, developers, residents, environmental groups, and faith-based organizations. Issues of key concern include the proposed loss of 850 out of 2,700 parking spaces along the corridor, impacts from construction, and increased congestion. AC Transit's policy toward public concern and input has been to listen and converse with anyone who wants to discuss the project. While the project details are still unfolding, some key outcomes of the public process are that there will be minimal investment in dedicates lanes in Berkeley, which will shift investment to the lower income neighborhoods that have been more supportive of the project. AC Transit will also have to mitigate the loss of parking spaces. The final EIS for the project is to be completed in early 2011.
The second technical presentation was given by Robert Beck of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. Mr. Beck's presentation, entitled "Transbay Transit Center: Bringing Bus, Commuter and High Speed Rail Service Together", focused on the design and construction details of the new center and how it improves upon the former Transbay Terminal. Seventy-five percent of worker in downtown San Francisco take transit to work, so the center is a critical component in the Bay Area transit network. The new facility will have direct ramps to the Bay Bridge, and will consist of 6 levels. The lowest level will have two platforms for High Speed Rail and one platform for Caltrain, which currently terminates in a far less convenient area of San Francisco. The Lower Concourse Level, Ground Level, and Second Level will serve as passenger circulation areas. The Bus Deck Level will serve AC Transit, Muni, and Greyhound, and features single circulation and single ramps which simplify the former center's loop design. The top floor will serve as a City Park for local residents to enjoy and will be reached via a funicular so that crowding within the center's passenger circulation areas will be minimized. In between the old terminal's demolition and the completion of the new center, bus passengers will be served by a temporary facility. From a construction standpoint, the center's shoring wall will be out for bid in March 2011. The excavation is set to begin in July 2013, with below-ground construction beginning in June 2014. Bus operations are expected to begin in 2017.
The next SF Bay ITE section meeting will be held on October 14, 2010 in Oakland.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Tiffany Barkley for this report.
June 2010
On June 17, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held a special Year-End Business Lunch at Sinbad's Pier 2 Restaurant in San Francisco. There were 50 people in attendance. Shruti Malik, the SFBayITE section Vice President, started the meeting. After the self-introductions, several announcements were made in regards to the upcoming ITE Western District Annual Meeting on June 27-30 in San Francisco.
The first presentation was made by Mr. Jack Fleck, retiring City Traffic Engineer, with San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The title of his presentation was The Role of the Auto in the City - Past, Present and Future, in which he talked about his professional experience as a Traffic Engineer with the City. He discussed the lessons learned from the Embarcadero Freeway project, and changes that have been occurring in City of San Francisco since the earthquake in 1989. He also discussed the global warming issue, and what should be done to stop the increase of emission of CO2 gas from transportation industry.
The second presentation was made by Mr. Ron Gremban, Technical lead, with CalCars, The California Cars Initiative. The title of his presentation was PHEVs & the Future of Urban Transportation, in which he talked about the Plug-In Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (PHEV). He also discussed the urgency to stop the global warming and dependency on petroleum, and why electricity could be a solution to the problem. He also introduced the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), an alternative mode for future urban transportation.
The certificates of appreciation were handed out by outgoing president of SFBayITE, Nate Chanchareon, and the new officers for the next year were introduced and sworn in.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
May 2010
On May 20, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held its monthly meeting at Osha Thai Restaurant in San Francisco. There were 44 people in attendance. This meeting was sponsored by the Wiltec - Traffic, Transportation, Transit and Parking Surveys. The first technical presentation was made by Ms. Michelle DeRobertis, Senior Transportation Planner at Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). In her presentation, Ms. DeRobertis showed slides taken in her trip to Stuttgart in Germany and Turin in Italy, showcasing the best practices which have been implemented in these two cities to encourage walking and bicycling. Examples of pedestrian streets, median bike paths, traffic-limited zones and other techniques were discussed. The second presentation was made by Ms. Ina Gerhard, Senior Transportation Planner/Bicycle Coordinator, with District 4 of Caltrans. Her presentation focused on Caltrans' efforts to improve access and safety for walking and bicycling on state highways. The Complete Streets Implementation Action Plan and the District 4 Employee Bike Sharing Program and Research Project were discussed. These two presentations were followed with very lively discussions.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
April 2010
On April 22, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held a meeting of transportation student presentations at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's (MTC) MetroCenter Auditorium in Oakland, Calif. Thirty-three (33) professionals attended the meeting. This year, SF Bay Area transportation students were invited to submit papers on the topic of Pedestrian Safety and Mobility, with the top three winners receiving Section scholarships and paid registration for the upcoming WesternITE conference to be held June 27-30, 2010 at San Francisco's Palace Hotel. Meghan Mitman, a senior transportation planner at Fehr & Peers, moderated the student paper presentations, which were followed by a lively question-and-answer session.
Thomas Wong, a second year undergraduate in the civil engineering program at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) presented the first paper. He conducted a daytime walking audit on local Berkeley arterials and other parallel roadways to determine the street environment factors that promote or discourage pedestrian and bicycling activity. In addition, survey instruments were administered to pedestrians. Shattuck and Telegraph Avenues, the surveyed arterial streets, were found to be the least bicycle and pedestrian-friendly compared with Milvia Street, which is a local Bicycle Boulevard. Mr. Wong was awarded the grand prize, a $600 Section scholarship and paid 2010 WesternITE meeting registration.
Jennifer Wong, an undergraduate senior in environmental economics and city planning at UC Berkeley, presented the second paper, entitled "California Pedestrian Safety Assessments: Russell Street and Ashby Avenue / State Route 13". She found that Russell Street, a Berkeley Bicycle Boulevard, is more inviting to pedestrians and bicyclists than the parallel arterial Ashby Avenue. A recent crash analysis revealed that bicycle and pedestrian collisions are approximately three times higher on Ashby Avenue, which handles more auto traffic than Russell Street, a primarily residential street. Her work also included a walking audit with a Pedestrian Environment Quality Index (PEQI) survey. Ms. Wong was awarded a $300 Section scholarship and paid 2010 WesternITE meeting registration.
The last student presenter was Gabriel Ho, an undergraduate senior civil engineering student at UC Berkeley. His paper, "Safety and Mobility Audit" focused on Telegraph and Hillegass Avenues in South Berkeley. Telegraph Avenue is a local arterial, while Hillegass Avenue is a parallel local residential street. Both study segments are located about a half-mile south of the UC Berkeley campus and are used by both students and City residents alike. His audit included a review of the streetscape and walking / bicycling environments of both segments. Among his recommendations was to improve the Telegraph streetscape environment by including more street trees and widening sidewalks. Mr. Ho was awarded a $300 Section scholarship and paid 2010 WesternITE meeting registration.
To read the three winning students' papers in more detail, visit the Section's student webpage at: http://www.sfbayite.org/students/.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
March 2010
On March 18, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held its monthly meeting at San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) office in San Francisco. There were 51 people in attendance. Shruti Malik, the SFBayITE section Vice President, started the meeting. After the self introductions, and general announcements, Mark Spencer talked about the upcoming ITE Western District Annual Meeting on June 27-30 in San Francisco.
The first technical presentation was made by Mr. Jim Misener, Executive Director of California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), Institute of Transportation Studies, UC-Berkeley. The title of his presentation was Intellidrive in the Bay Area - Past, Present and Future, in which he defined “Intellidrive”, and discussed the concepts of “Vehicle to Vehicle Communication” and “Vehicle to Road Communication”. The second technical presentation was made by Mr. Luca Delgrossi, Group Manager at the Vehicle-Centric Communications, Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. in Palo Alto. The title of his presentation was Cooperative Vehicle Safety with IntelliDrive: an OEM Perspective.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
On February 18, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held a joint meeting with the South Bay Traffic Officials Association (SBTOA) at Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant in downtown San Jose. The featured speaker was Hans Larsen, Acting Director of Transportation for the City of San Jose, with the topic "Bike Lanes, Bullet Trains, Pod Cars and Potholes." This "State of City Transportation" address covered the City's bold new plans for a safe, sustainable, and multimodal transportation system. A total of 100 transportation professionals attended the meeting.
Rail is a key transportation mode for the City of San Jose. The City is working aggressively to secure federal and state funding for the initial segment of the planned California High Speed Rail (HSR) system, which is anticipated to serve San Jose and the Bay Area by 2017. In addition, work continues to bring Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to downtown San Jose. Construction for the BART Warm Springs Extension from Fremont has already begun, with expected completion by 2014 at a cost of $840 million. The proposed 10-mile Warm Springs - Berryessa segment is expected to begin construction in 2011, with an expected cost of $2 billion and completion by 2025. Expected completion for the final link from Berryessa to downtown San Jose's Diridon Station and Mineta San Jose Airport is in 2025. The City's vision is an intermodal Diridon Station that would include HSR, BART, regional Caltrain rail, and local Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail, as well as (potentially) a new A's baseball stadium.
In November 2009, San Jose adopted the 2020 City Bicycle Plan, which looks to expand its current 250-mile network to 500 miles. The plan's goal is to increase bicycle mode share from one percent to five percent, which is close to the City of Portland's (Oregon) current national high of six percent.
Pavement quality is another concern in the City of San Jose. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission ranked San Jose 15th among Bay Area cities in pavement condition in 2008-09. Regional solutions being considered to raise revenue to improve roadways include increasing local gas taxes, developing a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) based user fee, toll roads, and high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. Locally, San Jose is considering a property-based user fee to fund pavement resurfacing projects, similar to the current fees charged to property owners for sanitary sewer service.
Traffic safety has improved significantly in San Jose over the last 20 years, which Mr. Larsen credited to the efforts of Jim Helmer, former City Director of Transportation. Over that time period, the City's collision rate has decreased from 7.6 to 3.0 injury crashes per thousand residents. This reduction was attributed to various engineering solutions, including traffic signals and traffic calming devices, as well as improved safety education, especially among local schoolchildren. In addition, San Jose will be installing its first red-light enforcement cameras this summer and is also looking at using cameras for speed enforcement.
Finally, San Jose has elicited interest from several international firms to develop a personal rapid transit (PRT) system, known as the Airport Transit Connector Project. This automated podcar system would link the Mineta San Jose Airport terminals with nearby Caltrain and VTA train stations located outside the airport. VTA has issued a $4 million grant to study alternatives, with a goal of completing the system by the end of 2015 and a potential cost of $500 million.
The next SFBayITE section meeting will be held in March 2010.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
January 2010
On January 21, 2010, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held its first monthly meeting of 2010 at Silver Dragon Restaurant in Oakland. There were 49 people in attendance. Shruti Malik, the SFBayITE section Vice President, started the meeting. After the self introductions, announcements were made in regards to upcoming ITE Western District Annual Meeting on June 27-30 in San Francisco.
The technical presentation was made by Ted Droettboom, Regional Planning Program Director of Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). In his presentation, Mr. Droettboom discussed how the San Francisco Bay Area regional agencies are approaching the preparation of a "Sustainable Communities Strategy" pursuant to SB 375. A Sustainable Communities Strategy is an integrated land-use and transportation plan aimed at accommodating economic and population growth while reducing green house gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
On November 19, 2009, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held its last monthly meeting of 2009 at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority office in San Francisco. Meeting sponsorship was provided by the Coulomb Technologies. Shruti Malik, the SFBayITE section Vice President, started the meeting. After the self introductions, Amit Kothari, the SFBayITE section Awards Chair announced that the SFBayITE section is accepting nominations for the 2009 Annual Recognition Awards in the two categories: Transportation Professional of the Year and Transportation Project of the Year. He also indicated that SFBayITE section is soliciting abstracts for papers for the ITE 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Mark Spencer, the 2010 District 6 Meeting Chair, provided information about the 2010 conference which will be held in Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
Mike Di Nucci, a Vice President of the Coulomb Technologies, gave a presentation introducing the firm's production of networked charging stations for hybrid cars, and that they have deployed approximately 400 charging stations in cities of San Jose and San Francisco.
The first technical presentation was by Jesse Koehler, a Transportation Planner with San Francisco County Transportation Authority. His presentation title was San Francisco On-Street Parking Management and Pricing Study. He started his presentation by listing the purpose of the study which was to review the existing on-street parking policies, to assess neighborhood parking conditions, to investigate innovative strategies and new technology, and to explore use of new revenues for neighborhood improvements. He discussed the study context, policy principles, current on-street parking strategies in San Francisco, and the study's technical activities. He also discussed parking and congestion pricing, residential parking management, and City's Parking Benefit Districts (PBDs). He concluded his presentation by providing the key study findings and near-term recommendations.
The second technical presentation was by Wendy Tao, a Transportation Analyst with Cambridge Systematics. The title of her presentation was The Park Assist Guidance System, Measuring Efficiency Improvements at Westfield Century City Mall. She started her presentation describing the Park Assist technology and continued by discussing the before and after study done at the Westfield Century City Mall, which included measuring the search time, reliability, fuel, and environmental impacts. She discussed the methodology, data collection times, parking occupancy study (car-following technique), and search time study. She concluded by summarizing the key findings in installing the Park Assist system: it decreased average search time for parking space in the parking facility and it improved the reliability of finding a parking space, all of these resulting in improvements in customer service, less emission of CO2, and less consumption of fuel.
The third technical presentation was by Sebastian Petty of Wilbur Smith Associates. Sebastian is a GIS Planning Specialist. The title of his presentation was Right-Sizing Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing, in which he discussed his study of parking requirements appropriate for a multi-family affordable housing development in a suburban downtown setting. His study provided insight into related issues impacting parking demand and behaviors. The City of Mountain View and three comparable projects in Palo Alto and Redwood City were examined in his study. He discussed the comparison methodology which was quantitative (late night on street / off street occupancy counts and review of project resident demographics), and qualitative (property manager interviews / questionnaires and site and area observations). He concluded his presentation by summarizing the key quantitative and qualitative findings. He discussed the fact that the factors affecting parking behaviors are complex and may not be adequately captured or addressed through a single uniform rate or a blanket reduction.
The next SFBayITE section meeting will be held in January 2010.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
On October 15, 2009, high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in the SF Bay Area were the focus of a joint meeting of the SF Bay Area Sections of ITE and WTS, held at Jillian's in San Francisco. Before the presentations, Kimberly Leung, President of the UC Berkeley ITE Chapter, provided an overview student activities since its inception one year ago. Joint meetings have been held with the University's ASCE and Chi Epsilon chapters, as well as with TRANSOC, the graduate transportation engineering student group. Kimberly also discussed four ways that companies and ITE members can sponsor UCB ITE chapter events - the monthly general meeting, the annual banquet, the field trip fund, and the ITE Annual Meeting Fund. Earlier ITE member support enabled four UC Berkeley students to attend the last WesternITE meeting in Denver.
Lisa Klein, Project Manager for the Bay Area Regional Express (High-Occupancy Toll) Lane Program at the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), opened the presentations with a discussion of the regional HOT lane program. HOT lanes were first implemented in southern California in the late 1990s and have since spread to other major metro areas in the U.S. The concept is that carpoolers and buses use HOT lanes for free, while single-occupant drivers can choose to pay a toll that varies by time of day and is collected electronically. When completed, the Bay Area will have an 800-mile network, with 500 miles converted from traditional HOV lanes and the balance consisting of new lanes that primarily close gaps in the current HOV network. HOT lanes will use the limited access concept currently employed in southern California, a change from the continuous access of current Bay Area HOV lanes. Revenue generated from HOT lanes will be used in part to improve transit along these corridors. Current projects under development include the I-580 corridor in Pleasanton / Livermore, I-680 South over the Sunol Grade, and various South Bay routes (I-880, SR 237, SR 85, and U.S. 101). Enabling legislation for the Bay Area's Regional Express Lane Network is currently working through Sacramento (California Assembly Bill 744).
The next presenter was Ray Akkawi, Principal Transportation Engineer at the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, who discussed two HOT lane projects in Alameda County. The I-680 South HOT lane project extends for 14 miles from SR 84 in Pleasanton to SR 237 in Milpitas, with an expected completion in Fall 2010. The I-580 Eastbound HOT lane project consists of 11 miles in Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore, with Summer 2011 expected completion. For both projects, a minimum $1.00 peak hour toll would be charged to solo drivers, with variable pricing based on congestion in both the HOT and mixed-flow lanes. The goal is to maintain level of service (LOS) C in the express lanes. To ensure successful operation of the HOT lanes, ACCMA is implementing several measures, including marketing that explains the dynamic pricing concept, establishing enforcement methodologies and technologies, training customer service staff, and adding incident management staff. Enforcement technology will include overhead gantries and pavement loop detectors.
Murali Ramanujam, Senior Transportation Engineer with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), concluded the presentations with an overview of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program. With 171 miles of HOV lanes, Santa Clara County has nearly half of all HOV lane miles in the Bay Area. Preliminary engineering is underway for the U.S. 101 and SR 85 HOT lanes through the County, as well as the express connectors at the I-880 / SR 237 interchange in Milpitas. The I-880 / SR 237 HOT lane project is expected to be complete in Spring 2011, while the SR 85 and U.S. 101 express lane projects are expected to be complete in 2013 and 2015, respectively. On U.S. 101, two express lanes per direction are envisioned, similar to the configuration of some facilities in southern California. VTA has conducted extensive public opinion research and focus groups to determine issues related to HOT lane operation, which include safety, enforcement, and carpool eligibility. The biggest challenge is expected to be familiarizing Bay Area drivers with the new concept of limited (rather than continuous) access to the HOT lanes.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
On September 17, 2009, high speed rail (HSR) in California was the focus at the SF Bay Area ITE Section's (SFBayITE) first meeting of the year, held at Osha Thai restaurant in San Francisco. Meeting sponsorship was generously provided by Sensys Networks and National Data Services (NDS). Ray Schreiber of Sensys and Bernadette Gilbey of NDS gave brief presentations introducing both firms.
Randy McCourt, District 6 (WesternITE) International Director, kicked off the meeting by swearing in the new SFBayITE Board members: Nate Chanchareon (President), Shruti Malik (Vice President), Kamala Parks (Treasurer), and Mousa Abbasi (Secretary). Following this ceremony, Past President Rich Haygood then presented Wing Lok, the newest Past President, with a special plaque honoring his service to the Section as President over the past year.
New President Nate Chanchareon followed with additional Section announcements. Nate introduced two newly appointed Section board members: Bhanu Kala, Sponsorship Co-Chair and Jin Wang, Co-Web Administrator. In addition, at the recent 2009 ITE Western District Annual Meeting in Denver, SFBayITE was named Best Large Section in the District, based on the Section's Annual Report detailing 2008 events (see: www.sfbayite.org/annualreport/). Finally, Nate announced that Dalene Whitlock was elected Western District International Director in Denver.
Rod Diridon, Executive Director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University and a local champion of HSR in California, began the main presentations with an overview of the proposed California HSR system. He first provided project context, noting the numerous HSR systems already operating Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Italy, Spain, and other countries. California HSR is currently one-third of the way through program-level environmental clearance. The envisioned HSR system would be a 790-mile, double tracked system capable of 220 miles per hour (mph) maximum speed, with an expected trip time of 2 hours 40 minutes from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The full system is expected to be in revenue service by 2030.
Next, Camille Tsao, Manager of Planning in Northern California for HNTB Corporation, discussed Caltrain's plans for commuter rail along the Peninsula corridor, which Caltrain will share with future HSR. Caltrain plans to have a fully electrified commuter rail line with positive train control (PTC) and complete grade separation. PTC is a feature that is used in all HSR systems. The ultimate goal is to increase service from five trains per hour per direction to 12. A project-level environmental impact report (EIR) is currently underway and expected to be complete by early 2011.
George Mazur of Cambridge Systematics concluded the technical presentations with an overview of the California HSR system ridership and revenue forecasts. A travel model consisting of intrastate travel was constructed. Forecast results show a large travel market for commute trips of 100 miles or less, for example between San Francisco and Fresno/Central Valley. It was also projected that in magnitude, many of the future HSR stations in 2030 would rival the Burbank Airport in weekday boardings. Expected sources of HSR ridership are 74 percent from auto, 18 percent from air travel, 7 percent from conventional rail, and one percent from diverted/induced demand. Typical HSR systems are very competitive to other modes at the 250-400 mile trip distance range, with autos being more competitive at less than 250 miles and air travel more competitive at greater than 400 miles. The HSR system's distance between the cities of SF and LA will be about 375 miles, placing this system in the "sweet spot" in terms of competitive advantage with auto and air travel.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
On October 16, 2008, the SF Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held a joint meeting with WTS San Francisco Chapter at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.
Prior to the speaker presentations, Bond Yee, past Director of the San Francisco Parking and Traffic Department, led a remembrance of Bill Marconi, P.E., who passed away on October 8, 2008. Bill was a dear friend and a longtime respected leader in the Bay Area traffic community, having served as Director of Traffic Engineering for the City of San Francisco, international president of ITE, chairman of ITE's Western District, and past president of SFBayITE (1958-59). A graduate of Santa Clara University, he was known for his mentoring of countless young engineers, his encouragement to participate in ITE, his high professional standards, and his wry sense of humor.
Just in time for the November election, three speakers presented on upcoming transportation-related ballot measures. The first speaker was Lillian Hames, General Manager for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). SMART is proposing a 1/4-cent retail transactions and use tax on the November ballot that would require a two-thirds majority from Marin and Sonoma County voters for passage. The rail system would utilize modern diesel rail vehicles on an existing right-of-way and provide a valuable alternative to U.S. 101, the fourth most congested corridor in the Bay Area. SMART would run 70 miles between Cloverdale and Larkspur and include a parallel, continuous Class I bicycle / pedestrian pathway. The new rail line would also provide connections to local buses and San Francisco ferries. Provided that this measure passes, revenue operation is expected by fall of 2014.
The second presentation was by Jim Gleich, Deputy General Manager for the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit). Measure VV is a District-wide measure that would raise an existing parcel tax by $48 per year for 10 years. The tax is expected to raise about $14 million per year to fund daily operations. It requires a two-thirds majority for passage but has no organized opposition. Passage will help AC Transit continue to provide a vital public service to East Bay residents.
Carolyn Gonot, the Chief Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Program Officer of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) gave the final presentation on the proposed tax for the San Jose Bay Area Rapid Transit (SJ BART) extension. Measure B in Santa Clara County would levy a 1/8-cent sales tax over 30 years for the operation and maintenance of the proposed 16.1-mile SJ BART extension. The extension would connect the future Warm Springs Station in Fremont to the cities of Milpitas, San Jose, and Santa Clara. VTA would only be able to collect the tax if sufficient federal and state funds are secured to match local construction funds. This measure requires a two-thirds majority for passage.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
On September 18, 2008, the SF Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held its first monthly meeting of the 2008-2009 Section year at the Gordon Biersch Brewery-Restaurant in San Francisco.
Rich Haygood, past President of the Section, presented the ITE Life Membership Award to Mr. Richard (Dick) Tilles. Rachel Donovan presented the past year's financial report, which was distributed to everyone in attendance. Rich Haygood also announced that the Social Events Survey is on the Section website for members to provide input.
Rich also announced that Allen Huang and Andrew Kluter won the "Wisest and Windiest Scribes Award" at the ITE Western District meeting in Anaheim last August, in recognition of their comprehensive submittals to the WesternITE newsletter publication.
The winners of ITE Logo Contest, Tamara Zdvorak and Jane Bierstedt of Fehr & Peers, were awarded $500 for their design that features the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. The logo will be used for the ITE Western District Annual Meeting in 2010.
After the new ITE San Francisco Bay Area Section officers were sworn in, there were two presentations. The first speaker was Mr. Tony Young, Assistant Engineer with San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The topic of his presentation was "Transit Signal Priority on San Francisco's Third Street Light Rail", which focused on light rail operation using VISSIM as the tool for analysis and evaluation. The overview included a demonstration of the Third Street Synchro and VISSIM models, transit signal priority elements, and travel time comparisons. He discussed the challenges of the process which include: conversion of network from Synchro to VISSIM is not exact, traffic counts can get outdated over time, and data collection is labor intensive and time consuming. He also discussed the next steps of the process, which include: collect auto travel time data, collect turn movement counts at key intersections, fine tune the signal timing, and implement the proposed changes.
The second presentation was made by Mr. Peter Martin and Mr. Valerio Oricchio, both Transportation Analysts with Wilbur Smith Associates. The topic of their presentation was "Traffic Integration Planning for Fort Mason Center Historic Streetcar Extension." In their presentation, they discussed the extension of San Francisco's historic streetcar service from its current terminus at Fisherman's Wharf to Fort Mason. The viability and benefits of semi-exclusive right-of-way operations and traffic priority were identified as key planning issues for this one-mile extension. Preliminary findings of the VISSIM analyses of these traffic integration issues were presented, including the streetcar travel times for mixed versus semi-exclusive right-of-way. The high pedestrian volume in the area was also identified as one of the modeling challenges.
Rich Haygood concluded the meeting by presenting certificates of appreciation to all of the speakers. The next monthly meeting will occur on October 16, 2008.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Afsaneh Yavari for this report.
On June 26, 2008, the SF Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) held its final monthly meeting of the 2007-08 Section year at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's (MTC) MetroCenter Auditorium in Oakland. Prior to the monthly speaker presentation, two awards were given to longtime Section members who have made notable contributions to the Section over their careers.
On behalf ITE District 6, President Jennifer Rosales announced that the District Student Endowment Fund, which helps support the Student Initiatives Program, has reached more than 20 percent of its $500,000 goal. In other news, the District has established a Facebook page as a new medium for communication among members. She also announced that the District is seeking a new editor for the WesternITE bi-monthly newsletter.
Jennifer presented a District 6 Presidential Proclamation to Tom Clausen, P.E., P.T.O.E., honoring him for his longtime service to ITE and the transportation engineering profession. As an ITE member for 33 years, Tom has served as Section President, District President, and International Director representing District 6. He is an ITE Fellow and has worked for several Bay Area cities and the California Department of Transportation. He is also an instructor for the Tech Transfer program of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Tom additionally has the distinction of holding P.T.O.E. License No. 1.
Dalene Whitlock, Past President of District 6, presented the District 6 Lifetime Achievement Award to Wolfgang Homburger, P.E., an honorary member of ITE. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the District's highest recognition of professional accomplishment and outstanding service to District 6. For more than 35 years at U.C. Berkeley, Wolfgang has served as a lecturer, research engineer, acting director and assistant director of the Institute of Transportation Studies. He has also authored or edited several transportation textbooks.
Rachel Donovan, one of the SF Bay ITE Past Presidents, introduced the main meeting speaker: Therese McMillan, MTC's Deputy Executive Director of Policy. In addition to her MTC duties, Therese is also an instructor at the Mineta Transportation Institute in San Jose. Therese presented the findings of a recent study entitled Transportation for Tomorrow: Report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. Steve Heminger, MTC's Executive Director, served on this special commission that was established by the recent federal SAFETEA-LU legislation and was charged with providing detailed recommendations for creating and sustaining a pre-eminent surface transportation system in the United States. The report is available at: www.transportationfortomorrow.org.
Among the commission's findings and recommendations:
- Between 1982 and 2005, the number of metro areas with average annual time spent in congestion of at least 40 hours increased from one (Los Angeles) to 30
- U.S. annual traffic fatalities over the last several years have held constant, while Great Britain has seen an overall decline each year
- Maintaining highways at their current state would cost approximately $175 billion; upgraded maintenance of the highway system would cost approximately $225 billion
- New Starts transit projects have been averaging 10 years for project delivery
- Establish a federal surface transportation commission
- Raise the gas tax by 25 to 40 cents to help with the anticipated future funding shortfalls
Rich Haygood, in his final act as this year's Section President, concluded the meeting by giving gifts of appreciation to all Board members for their service during the past year.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
Every April, the SF Bay Area ITE Section focuses on local transportation students. Each year, the Section invites local students to submit papers on a general transportation topic. This year, the Student Paper Competition topic was "Sustainable Living in the Suburbs". Students were asked to come up with policy recommendations related to transportation that would lead to "greener", or more environmentally sustainable, suburbs. The three prize winners presented their winning papers at the April Section meeting, held on April 24, 2008 at the Faculty Club of the University of California, Berkeley.
Professor Robert Cervero, Chair of the City and Regional Planning Department at UC Berkeley, moderated the student discussion. He highlighted some of the general themes, including how to address the spatially dispersed nature of current suburban commute trips and how to redefine and adapt public transportation to fit the suburban environment.
Kitae Jung, a Ph.D. student in the Transportation Engineering program at UC Berkeley, was the Grand Prize Winner of a $1,000 Section scholarship for his paper entitled "Suburban Living: Public Transportation for Environmentally Sustainable and Healthy Communities". His paper highlighted the main suburban transportation challenge - how to serve origin-destination patterns that are scattered, or "many-to-many". Based on analysis of recent Bay Area Travel Survey and U.S. Census data, about 66 percent of BART commuters in Contra Costa County access their local stations by car, even though about half of County BART commuters live within three miles of them. He recommended short haul bus service that links suburban neighborhoods to BART stations as a potential solution to reducing auto usage.
Sahil Gulati, an undergraduate student in civil and environmental engineering at San Jose State University, won the Undergraduate First Prize, a $500 Section scholarship for his paper entitled "Managing Suburbia." His policy suggestions included financial measures such as location efficient mortgages and allocation of transportation funds in proportion to population. He also recommended planning measures such as smart growth, transit-oriented development, and regional transportation planning that links city centers. Sahil accepted the undergraduate award for a second consecutive year with his proud parents in attendance.
Eric Anderson, a Master's student in urban and regional planning at San Jose State University, won the Graduate First Prize (also a $500 Section Scholarship) for his paper "Policy Guidelines for Using Point and Line Geometries to Build a Greener Suburb". The main challenge identified was how to "densify" suburbs in order to better utilize the existing transit infrastructure. He compared San Francisco, which has hubs of commercial activity ("points"), to Fresno, a city where commercial activity has developed along arterial roadways ("lines"). He found that public transportation can more efficiently and effectively serve an area that is developed around "points" rather than "lines".
The three paper presentations were followed by a lively Q & A session between students and meeting attendees. For those interested in reading the winning papers, the Section has posted them online at:
Rich Haygood, Section President, announced that five Bay Area students, including the three award recipients, would be offered paid transportation, hotel, and student registration at the upcoming District 6 meeting to be held August 17-20, 2008 in Anaheim, California.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
On March 20, 2008, the SF Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) monthly technical meeting topic was "Transportation and the Media". SFBayITE invited three of the Bay Area's top traffic news media experts to participate in a Q & A session with Section members on March 20, 2008 at New Delhi Restaurant in San Francisco. The panelists were Gary Richards of the San Jose Mercury News, who writes a popular column for the motoring public called "Mr. Roadshow"; Kim Wonderley, morning traffic reporter for KCBS-AM; and Stan Burford of ABC-7 Morning News and KGO-AM. Rachel Donovan of Caltrans, member of the ITE Section's Past President's Council, moderated the panel discussion. The forum provided an opportunity for the media panelists to relate what they are hearing from the public regarding traffic issues, as well as for transportation engineers to communicate ideas to the panelists for sharing with the public.
Mr. Richards' column relies to a great extent on the input of transportation engineers. Often, commuters write to him on specific traffic issues, such as the function of a particular freeway metering signal or progress of a roadway construction project. Answers to these questions require input from engineering officials. He expressed his appreciation for engineers' past help in answering reader questions.
Ms. Wonderley also provided helpful insights into the minds of commuters. Based on what she has seen as a traffic reporter, she suggested that more research should be done on effective use of major transportation corridors. Congestion pricing is one such measure that if planned effectively could provide travel with minimal delay on both weekdays and weekends. She also emphasized that transportation engineers should find more ways to encourage people to use carpool lanes in the Bay Area.
Mr. Burford provided a graphic for a proposed freeway route through San Francisco that would connect the Golden Gate Bridge to Daly City. The aim of his suggested route through the Sunset District, Golden Gate Park, and the Richmond District would be to remove regional traffic that currently uses local San Francisco streets. Bay Area transportation professionals with long memories will recall that a similar route was considered before the local freeway revolt in the 1950's and 1960's.
Mr. Burford also noted that the Bay Area freeway system is reaching the end of its lifespan, and engineers need to find effective ways to forecast freeway problems and upgrade the system accordingly. He emphasized the utility of having one transportation organization overseeing varied transportation services such as light rail, bus, and freeways. He cited Sydney, Australia as an example where light rail transit and local municipal transportation services are doing an excellent job in minimizing congestion within the city.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
How can the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) improve overall transit system performance? This question was the focus of the SF Bay Area ITE Section's monthly technical meeting held January 24, 2008 at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. Britt Tanner, Associate Engineer for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), and Peter Strauss of Muni provided an overview of initial study findings from the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP). The TEP is a joint effort of SFMTA and the San Francisco Controller's Office.
It has been over 25 years since the last comprehensive review of the entire Muni transit system. Initiated 18 months ago, the primary goals of the TEP are to make service more attractive to the public and to stabilize operating costs. The TEP is an ongoing process that has included review and evaluation of all aspects of the existing system, including service policies, operations, and management. TEP staff have also conducted a comparative analysis of other major transit systems, forecasting of future transit demand, and gathered extensive input from citizens and MTA employees.
Among Muni's current challenges is systemwide on-time performance, currently around 70 percent, which is below the recent voter-mandated goal of 85 percent. MTA found that overall, Muni service is approximately 10 percent slower than 10 years ago because of increased traffic congestion. Operational costs have risen the last several years, as costs such as health care have skyrocketed, while operational speeds have decreased, requiring more vehicles to keep up with current service obligations.
MTA collected real-time data using automatic passenger counters (APCs) that were installed on approximately 10 percent of Muni transit vehicles. The APCs are able to measure transit boardings and alightings, as well as dwell times of transit vehicles. These data provided very valuable information on current performance of select Muni lines. In addition, MTA facilitated several community workshops to determine rider expectations of the Muni system. First and foremost, Muni riders want reliability. They also would like quicker service.
Other current challenges for Muni include the need for additional schedulers to manage a system that has approximately 700,000 boardings per day, the most of any Bay Area transit system. Also, there is a need for improved transit vehicle operator availability, more route supervisors, and improved enforcement of double-parked vehicles blocking Muni routes and bus stops. Among the toolkit of options to improve system performance, San Francisco is launching a pilot project to install cameras that would help enforce double parking in transit lanes, similar to how red-light cameras are used.
For more information on the SF Transit Effectiveness Project, visit the project website at www.sftep.com. Ongoing project updates can be received by subscribing to the project newsletter at info@sftep.com..
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
The San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section (SFBayITE) and South Bay Traffic Officials Association (SBTOA) jointly presented their annual awards for Transportation Project of the Year and Transportation Professional of the Year at the monthly Section meeting held November 15, 2007 at the Silver Dragon Restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown. The main objective of the Awards Program is to recognize exceptional projects and individuals in the field of transportation during the past year. The Awards Program directors accepted nominations using an online survey for the categories of Transportation Project of the Year and Transportation Professional of the Year. A selection committee comprised of ten transportation professionals representing the public and private sector evaluated the nominated projects on the basis of innovation, challenges faced, cost effectiveness, and public acceptance.
Award co-chair Amit Kothari presented the Project of the Year award to California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 4 for developing and implementing an integrated corridor Transportation Management Plan (TMP) that was facilitated by Caltrans' Emergency Operations Center and was a key part of the multi-modal, multi-jurisdictional response to the MacArthur Maze Meltdown (I-80/I-580/I-880 interchange in Oakland) last May. During the emergency Maze reconstruction, the TMP prevented the traffic congestion that had been expected after the disaster, benefiting thousands of Bay Area residents and visitors while providing major time and cost savings throughout the region. SFBayITE / SBTOA also honored the many other agencies involved in the Maze response with special commendations, including the California Highway Patrol, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, and the Cities of Oakland, San Francisco, Emeryville, and Berkeley.
Sean Nozzari, Deputy District Director of Traffic Operations at District 4, and Barry Loo, Office Chief of Traffic Management at District 4, accepted the Project of the Year award and conducted a brief presentation detailing the traffic management and interagency coordination efforts during the MacArthur Maze reconstruction. Among its efforts, Caltrans activated 19 variable message signs and five highway advisory radios to keep motorists continuously informed during Maze detours. This kept traffic flowing until the Westbound I-80 to Southbound I-880 connector reopened in eight days, and the Eastbound I-80 to Westbound I-580 connector reopened in 26 days.
SFBayITE / SBTOA also awarded a special commendation to the City of Lafayette for its Bicycle Master Plan. Leah Greenblatt of the City of Lafayette accepted the award. The project was nominated for Project of the Year for its innovative approach towards promoting bicycle usage in a fiscally challenged and roadway capacity constrained environment.
Finally, award co-chair Shruti Malik presented the Professional of the Year Award to Ricardo Olea of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT). In 13 years with DPT, Mr. Olea has distinguished himself as a leader and mentor for transportation engineers throughout DPT and also as an expert in the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. During the past decade, his analysis of San Francisco's high accident locations has led to an annual decrease in reported pedestrian and injury collisions, amounting to an approximately 30 percent decrease overall during that period. He has also reengineered detour routes for the Central Freeway and completed one of the first City road diet projects on Arguello Avenue, which included the addition of bicycle lanes. Congratulations to Ricardo Olea on this distinguished award!
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
The October meeting was held in San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) Conference Room. More than 80 members showed up at the luncheon. This special event hosted jointly by the San Francisco Bay Chapters of ITE and WTS on the "HOT" topic of value pricing.
At the start of the meeting, outgoing ITE Past President Rachel Donovan presented the SFBayITE Past Presidents Plaque to Joy Bhattacharya. Joy will be serving as immediate Past President on the Section's Executive Board for the 2007-08 year. The plaque is engraved with the names of all SFBayITE Past Presidents, dating back to 1953, and is passed on from one Past President to another each year. Fellow members of the Past President's Council, Mark Spencer and Ray Davis, fellow joined Rachel in presenting Joy with the perennial Past President's plaque.
For the technical portion of the meeting, two topics were presented:
The event was moderated by Lisa Klein, MTC. She gave us a regional perspective about the background of congestion pricing.
In early 80's, the MTC evaluated a congestion pricing policy on the Bay Bridge. However, due to the lack of political support, the project was cool off since then. Recently, the Bay Area was fortunate to be named one of the 5 Urban Partners in the US, and is eligible to receive over $150 million in federal funds through the Urban Partnership program to jump-start some pricing initiatives.
The slide presentations are available at www.sfbayite.org/pastevents.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report.
The SF Bay Area ITE Section started a new September tradition, "Thirsty Thursday". This year, 19 Section members and non-members came to the Pacific Coast Brewing Company in Oakland on September 27 to mingle with fellow professionals in a relaxed social environment and to kick off a new year of Section activities.
Randy McCourt, District 6 International Director, swore in three new officers elected for 2007-08. Richard Haygood (President), Wing Lok (Vice President), and Nate Chanchareon (Treasurer) officially took the helm of their respective Section positions. Mike Dahlin, the Section's new Secretary, was unable to be present and will be sworn in at a future date.
The event also featured the presentation of the Traffic Bowl trophy, which the Section successfully recaptured at the District 6 Annual Meeting held in Portland, Oregon last July. The trophy had not been home in the Bay Area for several years! Congratulations to the victorious Bay Area team of Chris Pangilinan and Patty Camacho of DKS, Ray Davis of the City of Belmont, and Ricardo Olea of the City of San Francisco MTA!
The next Section meeting will take place at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority on Thursday, October 18. This joint meeting with WTS will feature presentations on value pricing of transportation facilities in the Bay Area, including specific applications currently under consideration in San Francisco and Santa Clara County. We hope to see you there!
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
On June 21, 2007, the ITE luncheon was hosted in Oakland Chinatown. At the meeting, the President of ITE District 6, Ms. Dalene J. Whitlock and the officers of the San Francisco Bay Area Section declared June 21, 2007 as the Wolf Homburger Day to recognize Wolfgang for his contributions to the Institute, and gratefully acknowledge his efforts in the betterment of the rewarding profession of transportation engineering.
Wolfgang S. Homburger, P.E., is an Honorary Member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), #1158. Since 1966 he has devoted untold hours of work in support of our transportation engineering profession. He has received the Burton W. Marsh Distinguished Service Award for his contributions over the years to advance ITE in an outstanding fashion and also ITE's 50th Honorary Member, which is ITE's highest recognition of notable and outstanding professional achievement.
Prof. Homburger has served as a lecturer, research engineer, acting director and assistant director of Institute of Transportation Studies during more than 35 years at UC Berkeley. He has written or edited a number of transportation textbooks, including the Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering (now in its 15th edition), Introduction to Transportation Engineering, Transportation and Traffic Engineering Handbook, and Residential Street Design and Traffic Control.
After the Proclamation of Homburger's Day, Mr. Randy Rentschler of Metropolitan Transportation Commission presented the highlights of transportation funding in the region. Last November, California voters approved state Proposition 1B, the $20 billion Transportation Infrastructure Bond measure. He talked about how the broad language on the ballot was translated into funding allocations among competing regions and agencies, and to specific highway congestion relief and transit projects and other programs.
Before the end of the meeting, the current Chapter's President, Mr. Joy Bhattacharya announced new elected officers of the next term. The following officers were elected: President, Richard Haygood; Vice President, Wing K. Lok; Treasurer, Nate Chanchareon; and Secretary, Mike Dahlin. At the end, Joy gave a bottle of champagne to each board member for her/his contributions to the San Francisco Bay Area Section.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report.
Also in the month of June: The ITE section co-hosted the second ITS technical workshop with the California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT). The workshop, entitled "Real-time Traveler Information" was held on June 15, 2007 at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Auditorium in Oakland, CA, with approximately 50 attendees.
Real-time traveler information is the poster child of ITS applications. It promises to let commuters make trip decisions on the fly, thereby reducing delays and leading to optimal usage of transportation infrastructure. With the advent of mobile data telecommunications, traveler information is now available on the go, whether by cell phone or in car navigation systems.
At the same time, mobile terminals are starting to be used to collect traffic data from individual vehicles. This contributes to the forward-looking vision of a telecommunications network linking vehicles and the infrastructure, known as Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration (VII). But whether the end users are compelled to take advantage of this offering or not still rely on the two most important features in traveler information systems, namely data quality and usability.
In keeping with the workshop series' focus on generating productive interactions between public and private organizations, this workshop showcased both government initiatives and commercial products in the area of mobile traveler information systems. Our panelists included Ms. Melanie Crotty, Director of Traveler Coordination and Information with MTC, Mr. Cooper Marcus, CEO of Spark Parking Inc., Mr. Andre Gueziec, CEO of Beatthetraffic.com and Mr. Steve Wollenberg, Founder and VP Business Development of Dash Navigation Inc.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report. The SF Bay Area ITE Section held its monthly technical meeting at California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 4 headquarters in Oakland. In what has become an annual tradition during the month of April, the Section invited local transportation students to submit papers on a general transportation topic. The Section awarded scholarships to competition winners and gave them the opportunity to present their papers at the April Section meeting.
This year, the students focused on Smart Growth and Transit-Oriented Development. Many of the papers addressed the potential for TOD around existing suburban stations of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) regional rail system. Such developments have the potential to reduce automobile trips given their characteristics of dense, mixed-use development, and they also promote use of alternative modes such as transit, bicycling, and walking. Three student scholarship recipients presented their winning papers at the April Section meeting, which was followed by a lively Q & A session between students and attendees. The scholarship winners and their paper topics were as follows: In addition to the above scholarships, the Section also offered the above three students an all-expenses paid trip to this July's District 6 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Due to the high quality of student papers this year, two additional students were awarded $100 Honorable Mention prizes at the April Section meeting:
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Andrew Kluter for this report.
February luncheon - Smart Growth: Coordinating Land Use and Transportation Planning was held in Ristorante Raphael in downtown Berkeley, California. Not only more than 60 transportation professionals attended, a lot of graduate students from U.C. Berkeley joined with us at this event as well. It was our honor to have Dr. Reid Ewing, Research Professor, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland shared his knowledge with us. Dr. Ewing has written books for the major planning and development organizations: Developing Successful New Communities for the Urban Land Institute; Best Development Practices and Transportation and Land Use Innovations for the American Planning Association; and Traffic Calming State-of-the-Practice for the Institute of Transportation Engineers. His 1997 Journal of the American Planning Association article on sprawl is listed by APA as a "classic" in urban planning. His 2003 study of sprawl and obesity may have received more national media coverage than any planning study ever. It was the most widely cited academic paper in the Social Sciences as of late 2005, according to Essential Science Indicators. Dr. Ewing is a much sought-after speaker, delivering over 100 addresses in 30 states over the past five years. Venues for his featured addresses have included the National Press Club and Congressional committees. Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report.
The January meeting was held on the 18th at the New Delhi Restaurant on Ellis Street in San Francisco and over 50 members were able to attend the event. The topic of the luncheon was Traffic Calming: Citizen/Government Partnerships. Two speakers were invited to present on the subject: Ms. Leah Greenblat, a transportation planner for the City of Lafayette, and Mr. Manito Velasco, the Traffic Calming Program Manager for the City of San Francisco DPT. Ms. Greenblatt gave the first presentation which was entitled "Traffic Calming in a Small Town" and described the City of Lafayette's traffic calming program. The goals stated for the City of Lafayette were to improve the attention, awareness, and behavior of all users. The three tools available to implement these goals were educational programs, enforcement, and engineering. After their initial study they were able to develop a traffic calming guidebook for the City of Lafayette. Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report.
The November meeting was hold at Bella Mia Restaurant in downtown San Jose on November 14, 2006. More than 60 members joined this gathering. Our guest speaker was Mr. Robert Doty, the Director of Rail Operations, Engineering, and Construction, Caltrain. Robert has world-wide experience with rail systems. He had done various rapid transit projects in the Unite States, London, UK, and Taipei, Taiwan. Robert struck us with his opening speech: the United States is still a developing country in terms of the rapid transit rail systems and we are far behind European rail technologies. In California, we have the fastest growth rail ridership in the country. The current rail ridership is about 36,000 person trips every day. Based on Caltrain's projections, the ridership will be totally doubled in next 20 years. He also pointed out that rail system is 31 times safer than automobiles. In the last year under his management, Caltrain increased 16% ridership without added one employee or equipment. After the feature presentation, two awards were presented: Transportation Project of the Year and Transportation Professional of the Year Transportation Project of the Year Award is given to TravelChoice program. The program is to reduce driving and congestion while promoting healthy physical activity launched in the City of Alameda on April 3, 2006. The program is sponsored by the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, AC Transit, BART, and the Alameda County Public health Department and coordinated by the Transportation and Land Use Coalition. The program is funded through the sponsoring agencies, the Air District's Transportation Fund for Clean Air, and the City of Alameda. Transportation Professional of the Year Award is given to Mr. Zahir Gulzadah, City of San Jose, Department of Transportation. Zahir has distinguished himself in a number of ways. His duties include management of Traffic Operations Team, contractors and the City's Residential Permit Parking program. In addition to his administrative duties, he supervises traffic management during special events (markings, road closures, barrier installation and removal, bleachers installation and removal, course layout, parking access and paving rehabilitation), and also provides mentoring to the City's internship programs. Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report.
The October meeting was held on the 19th at the Gordon Biersch Brewery on The Embarcadero in San Francisco and over 50 members were able to attend the event. The topic of the luncheon was Downtown Parking Innovations: Avoiding the High Costs of Free Parking. Three speakers were invited to present on the subject: Ms. Valerie Knepper of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Mr. Michael Vecchio, the Transportation Specialist from the City of Walnut Creek, and Mr. Dan Zack, the Downtown Development Manager for the City of Walnut Creek. Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report.
The June meeting of the SF Bay ITE section was held at the Yoshi's restaurant in Oakland. About 55 attendees were present at the last meeting of the 2005-2006 year.
The meeting started with the San Jose "Traffic Jammers" performing some musical numbers on the Yoshi's Jazz Club stage. Hans Larsen, Deputy Director, Department of Transportation, City of San Jose made the presentation. Hans Larsen introduced the relatively new policy adopted by City of San Jose to proactively support its Smart Growth developments. Mr. Larsen introduced the salient features of this new policy and how it is facilitating transit oriented development and revitalization of Downtown San Jose. This traffic impact policy allows for "overriding" traffic level of service impacts in transit corridors and special infill development areas, and at the same time requires development projects to construct improved facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users.
The meeting concluded with announcements of the election results. The newly elected officers for the 2006-2007 year were Joy Bhattacharya (President), Richard Haygood (Vice President), and Wing Lok (Secretary-Treasurer). Outgoing ITE Section President Rachel Donovan honored the ITE Section Board members with Hawaiian leis for appreciation of their efforts in the 2005-2006 year and in anticipation of the upcoming ITE District 6 Annual Meeting in Honolulu.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Pratyush Bhatia for this report.
The May meeting was held on 18th (The Bike to Work Day) at Caltrans District 4 Headquarters in Oakland. Over 50 attendees were present and some attendees rode their bikes to the meeting to support the Bike to Work Day. (See photos on www.sfbayite.org) The topic was Innovations in Bicycle Facility Design. Two speakers were invited: Mr. John Ciccarelli, Senior Planner with Korve Engineering. Mr. Mike Sallaberry, Associate Transportation Engineer with San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Department of Parking and Traffic.
Mr. Ciccarelli presented FHWA MUTCD guidelines of designing bicycle facilities. John not only showed us a range of bicycle facility design samples in California, but also in other states, such as Portland, Oregon. He explained different functionality of various designs. John specifically pointed out the severity of "Dooring" related bicycle accidents and how to mitigate it.
Mr. Sallaberry gave us a nice introduction about bicycle programs and the vision of the City and County of San Francisco. He presented some on-going projects and also some future plans in the region. Mike also showed us various signages of bicycle facilities in the jurisdiction.
For detailed PowerPoint presentations of the meeting, please visit the Past Events page at www.sfbayite.org.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Allen Huang for this report.
The April meeting of the SF Bay Area ITE section was held at the San Francisco Transportation Authority in San Francisco. About 46 attendees were present.
The meeting featured a panel discussion on the Future of Congestion Pricing in the Bay Area. The panel included three students from UC Berkeley: Nicole Foletta, Megan Smirti and Wilson Tam who talked about their winning papers on congestion pricing. Rock Miller, ITE international Director for District 6 was the panel moderator. Recent road pricing projects across California indicate that congestion management and revenue generation are possible through innovative toll collection. The panel pointed out that parking management is one of the strategies that are often used in the Bay Area. The panel explored several interesting issues including past experiences with congestion pricing in the Bay Area and the opportunities and challenges facing its implementation in the Bay Area. The audience participated actively in the discussion with several interesting questions and comments.
The winning student papers are available at the section website www.sfbayite.org on the Students/Mentors page.
Many thanks to ITE Section Co-Scribe Pratyush Bhatia for this report.
The March meeting was a joint meeting of ITE/EBTE and was held on March 16 at the San Francisco Transportation Authority. About 26 attendees were present.
The meeting topic was Hydrogen Fuel Technology and Intelligent Transportation Systems with the speaker being Mr. Timothy Lipman who is a Research Engineer at the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Lipman noted that hydrogen is a relatively clean fuel, depending on how it is produced and that its "mileage" rate is comparable to very efficient gasoline engines. He then demonstrated the ability of small solar panel to convert water to hydrogen, which was then used to power a small fan. However, he noted that due to the large amount of power needed to manufacture the hydrogen necessary to run a vehicle, the solar cells are too inefficient and too large in size for a real world application. It was also noted that one of the major problems with hydrogen is providing the infrastructure, namely the ability to distribute it to the traveling public. While some transit agencies do use hydrogen, they have a limited number of vehicles that typically return and start from the same place-hence refueling can be centralized. With the public however, they would need a support infrastructure similar to what is provided for gasoline-based engines. The question then becomes what comes first, the infrastructure or the vehicles? Mr. Lipman noted that if you had asked him earlier this year as to when hydrogen based vehicles will be available to the public, he would have said in 10 to 20 years. However, he noted that Honda just announced they would soon be marketing a home-based hydrogen fueled vehicle. Honda however has kept the details secret and no details are known.
Many thanks to ITE Section ITS Coordinator Syd Bowcott for this report.
The February meeting was held on the 16 th at Ristorante Raphael in Downtown Berkeley. Over 60 attendees were present including students of UC Berkeley. Jim Helmer, Director of Department of Transportation for the City of San Jose made the presentation. Jim identified the causes and factors leading to red light running. He presented engineering countermeasures to reduce red light running and introduced techniques to calculate change intervals for safe intersection operation.
Ken Ackeret, the ITE District 6 President traveled to the Bay Area to attend this meeting. Mr. Ackeret made a Presidential Declaration of Glenn Griggs Day in recognition of Glenn's achievements, and Glenn was presented with a framed certificate commemorating his years of service to the transportation community.
ITE Section President Rachel Donovan announced the sad news of the passing of ITE Section Past President Eric Mohr. Details on the funeral and contact information for condolences were made available to members on the sfbayite.org web site.
The first 2006 meeting was held on January 19 at the Silver Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Oakland Chinatown. Over 80 attendees were present. The meeting topic was Transit Oriented Simulation using AIMSUN and VISSIM. Two speakers were invited: Mr. Thomas Bauer, President, PTV America and Dr. Jia Hao Wu, Senior Associate, TJKM Transportation Consultants. Before the presentations, the President of Bay ITE, Ms. Rachel Donovan introduced the new elected board members to the audience. Mr. Bauer and Dr. Wu both talked about the overview of two software packages and then focused on Transit-related characteristics, including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Multimodal Transit Terminals. Both tools can evaluate traffic networks with transit operation and also demonstrate great graphical simulation outputs. The detailed PowerPoint presentations can be downloaded from http://www.sfbayite.org. The joint November meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section and the South Bay Transportation Officials Association was held in the Rotunda of the new San Jose City Hall. The ITE section president, Rachel Donovan, began the meeting with an update on the ITE Student and Mentoring programs. Patty Camacho, STEP Mentoring program chair, said more volunteers are needed to be mentors. Visit www.sfbayite.org for information on how to sign up. Jim Helmer, City of San Jose, introduced the speaker. Rod Diridon served as a local elected official in Santa Clara County for several years early in his career. Throughout his political career, he showed a continual regional focus that included being the only local elected official to serve on the boards of Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), San Francisco Bay Area Air Quality Management District (SFBAAQMD), and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). He also demonstrated a long-term commitment to transportation, and was the chair of the first ever ½ cent sales tax program to fund transportation improvements that was passed by the voters. He is currently the executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) at San Jose State University. Mr. Diridon presented a summary of the security of transportation systems in the United States and the world, based on studies of over 1,000 terrorist attacks on surface transportation systems. Terrorist organizations such as Al Queda appear to be selecting targets to inflict large numbers of casualties, create widespread emotional shock, and long-term disruption of the transportation system. Their ultimate goal with this disruption may be financial failure of the United States. Recent incidents show a pattern of targeting US allies in Iraq to force them to withdraw troops. Some of the Lessons Learned from the review of recent attacks are as follows: • The highest threat is to "soft" targets with large numbers of passengers, such as subway systems. • "Hardening" targets reduces the threat and successfully thwarts attacks. The airline industry is such an example that has been upgraded. • Transportation industry staff need to be trained to recognize and respond to threats. • Transportation agencies need to review systems and develop plans to recognize and respond to threats and recover from incidents. The National Incident Management System (NIMS) has been developed to help with reviews and planning. • Field exercises are critical. They are the only way to confirm that reviews and planning are complete and training is adequate. The NIMS was implemented with a requirement that all public agencies develop adequate disaster response plans by November 2006 or face severe penalties. Penalties can include loss of all federal funding and individual liability for agency officials responsible for the plan. Many California agencies are close to meeting NIMS requirements because of the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) that has existed in this state for many years. The City of San Jose is an example of an agency that is one of the best prepared in the country. On October 21st, the Bay Area ITE and the Women's Transportation Seminar were jointly sponsoring an event about Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) by Mr. Randy Rentschler, Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Director of Legislation and Public Affairs, and Ms. Alix Bockelman, Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Director of Programming and Allocations. Mr. Rentschler and Ms. Bockelman highlighted the benefits, limitations, and program and funding changes in the transportation authorization legislation. Almost 100 attendees were present and the event was held in Auditorium at Metro Center in Oakland. The detailed presentation slide can be downloaded from www.mtc.ca.gov . The September meeting was held on the 15th at the New Delhi Restaurant in downtown San Francisco. Over 200 attendees were present.
At this meeting, the newly elected Section officers (Rachel Donovan, President; Joy Bhattacharya, Vice President; and Margaret Cortes, Secretary-Treasurer) were officially sworn in by ITE District 6 Vice President Dalene Whitlock. The new Section President gave a Powerpoint presentation highlighting the Section's goals for the upcoming year.
ITE Golf Chair Andrew Poster presented a check for $800 from the proceeds of the ITE Golf Tournament to representatives from Katie's Clinic for Rett Syndrome.
ITE Section President Rachel Donovan presented the ITE Life Member Award to Gary Kruger of TJKM Consultants. ITE members may become eligible for the Life Member award after reaching the age of 60 and being a member of ITE for at least 25 years.
The meeting's featured speaker was Albert Yee, Caltrans District 4, Deputy Director, Division of Operations. Mr. Yee presented the requirements for doing Freeway Corridor Studies and Traffic Analyses based on Caltrans' expectations. These requirements would help consultants streamline corridor studies through the Caltrans review process resulting in reduced delays and faster project delivery times. The Top 10 Do's and Don'ts for freeway corridor studies were shared with attendees. The presentation slide can be downloaded from the Past Events page at www.sfbayite.org. The June 2005 meeting was held at Yoshi's in Jack London Square in Oakland on June 23, 2005. The topic was "Transportation and Media." The meeting featured a question and answer session with the Bay Area's traffic reports. The panel consisted of Gary Richards, author of the Mr. Roadshow column for the San Jose Mercury News, Joe McConnel, traffic report for various Bay Area radio stations, and Stan Burford, helicopter traffic reporter for ABC-7 television station and 810 AM radio station. ITE Section Vice President Rachel Donovan moderated the panel discussion. The panel discussed the changes in their reporting over the last years and the relationship between traffic engineers and reports. In addition, Bond Yee of the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic was presented with a special award from David Parisi, the section president, who declared June 23, 2005 Bond Yee Day. The 2005 ITE Charity Golf Tournament was held on June 10, 2005 at the Monarch Bay Golf Club in San Leandro. The wind coming off the Bay helped to create a Scottish feel for the tournament. Many balls were lost and many golfers cursed their own skills. The Closest to the Pin contest was won by John Templeton of the City of Concord, who happily completed his pressure ridden birdie putt. The Long Drive was powered through the wind and onto the fairway by Mike Tassano of the City of Pleasanton. The grand prize of the team scramble format was taken with a low score of minus 6, by the threesome of Ray Davis (City of Belmont), Gary Tsunami (City of Stockton) and Ray Santiago (City of West Sacramento) who were forced to play without their anchor, John Kluga. Prizes consisted of golf hats and knick-knacks that no one ever really needs; the true prize was the spirit of camaraderie that we all shared that day. Virtually all the participants expressed positive feedback regarding the course, the event, the charitable causes, and their overwhelming desire not only to return next year, but to encourage more participants to join the frivolity in the future. The tournament raised over $1,500 which was evenly split between ITE Student Scholarship Fund and the charity Katie's Clinic for Rett Syndrome in Oakland. The May 2005 meeting was held on Bike to Work Day, May 19, 2005, at the Downtown Campus of the City College of San Francisco. Appropriately, this meeting was all about pedestrian and bicycle safety. Christina Atienza of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and Seleta Reynolds of Fehr & Peers Associates, unveiled the new MTC Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Toolbox. The toolbox, which can be viewed online at www.mtc.ca.gov/planning/bicyclespedestrians/tools.htm , consists of programs and policies that can be implemented by jurisdictions to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. The toolbox describes 70 engineering, enforcement, and education tools. The advantages, disadvantages, and cost of each tool are described in detail, and examples are provided. David Parisi, of Parisi Associates, also provided an overview of ITE's new Safe Routes to School Toolkit. On May 12, 2005, the San Francisco Bay Area ITE Section in conjunction with the East Bay Traffic Engineers (EBTE), presented a joint technical workshop on the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) at the URS offices on Downtown Oakland. The speakers, Johnny Bhullar, a Senior Transportation Engineer with Caltrans Division of Traffic Operations in Sacramento, and Matt Schmitz, a Safety/Traffic Engineer with Federal Highway Administration's California Division Office in Sacramento, provided background information and details of the new 2003 California Supplement. The April 2005 meeting was held on April 21, 2005 at the URS offices in downtown Oakland. This meeting was all about students. Students from colleges across the Bay Area participated in the Student Paper Scholarship Award Contest. They were asked to write an essay on "Should solo drivers in hybrid cars be allowed in the carpool lane?" Adam Cohen, a senior at UC Berkeley, won this year's scholarship and presented his winning paper at the meeting. Patty Camacho, the student mentorship program chair, provided an overview of the Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP). Patty discussed the challenges and success of the program in its first year. Mark Spencer also introduced ITE's new one-on-one mentoring program for professionals. On March 17, 2005, the meeting was held at the New Delhi Restaurant in Downtown San Francisco. The topic was Red Light Photo Enforcement, which was discussed by a panel of experts consisting of Tabin Chung, Program Manager for the City and County of San Francisco, Glenn Goepfert, Assistant Director of Public Works for the City of Cupertino, and David Huynh, a Senior Transportation Engineer with the City of Fremont. ITE Section Vice President Rachel Donovan moderated the panel discussion.
The panel discussed the challenges and successes of the red light photo enforcement in their respective communities. Each panel member gave an overview and answered questions regarding the implementation, enforcement, and results of the program.