New highway tolling eyed in Bay Area

To lower greenhouse gas emissions, MTC envisions the “eventual transition to congestion pricing on all freeway lanes in corridors with robust transit options,” according to the letter and adds “express lanes can be a stepping stone to more extensive congestion pricing strategies.”

“Prior to such implementation, further investigation is needed to better understand how congestion pricing on freeways may be implemented and the potential impacts on express lane operations as well as local roadways and transit,” according to the letter.

MTC is asking the nine Bay Area counties to sign off on the letter, including the above plan for freeway tolling so it can be included in the Plan Bay Area 2050 draft blueprint. For most major transportation projects to proceed from conception to implementation, inclusion in that plan is a key requirement. 

MTC’s letter also includes the goal of “lowering the speed limit to 55 mph on freeways to improve safety,” and adds “during congested periods the general purpose lanes typically flow well below that speed, and so the express lanes could still offer a travel time and reliability advantage.”

During an Express Lanes Joint Powers Authority meeting last week, San Mateo County elected officials agreed to study, but not yet endorse the above policy proposals.

“We support studying it, but we have reservations about many of these policies and we’re not committing to them until the studies are complete,” said JPA member Emily Beach, also Burlingame’s mayor. 

JPA members were concerned MTC’s letter was written in such a way that it could later commit them to the proposed policies. The letter is being edited to address that concern before San Mateo County officials sign it.

“This is how it normally plays out with [MTC]. Staff does this and get you to go down that path. … We’re trying to make sure we don’t go down the path that leads us all into something none of us really want or has been fully studied yet,” said MTC Commissioner Gina Papan, also a Millbrae councilwoman, during the meeting. 

Papan also said San Mateo County officials are “being told that all the other jurisdictions signed off on [the letter] but we haven’t seen that yet.” She added once San Mateo County articulates its concerns on the record the other Bay Area counties may follow suit.

Visit www.planbayarea.org for more information on Plan Bay Area 2050.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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