A call for more highways

By MICHAEL CABANATUAN
Bay Area roads and freeways, already among the nation's most congested, will be as clogged in 2030 as Los Angeles' are now, according to a new study.

But the region can avoid emulating L.A.'s tangled traffic and accommodate expected population growth, the group behind the study says, with a major expansion of the Bay Area's road and highway system _ including a network of toll lanes as well as dedicated truck lanes between the East Bay and the San Joaquin Valley.

The study released Thursday by the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank that advocates toll lanes, also takes a shot at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the region's transportation planning and financing agency, and its long-range spending plan, which over the next 25 years steers most money for new transportation projects to mass transit.

"We're saying we really need to look hard at changing priorities," said Robert Poole, Reason's transportation director. Building and expanding highways "has gradually become the abandoned stepchild in transportation planning. Public transportation and carpooling alone can't eliminate congestion. People still like to drive, and they're still moving to far-flung suburbs."

Randy Rentschler, a transportation commission spokesman, said that adding thousands of miles of highways might ease congestion, but the Bay Area would end up looking like Los Angeles with concrete, smog and sprawl as far as the eye can see.

"Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease," he said. "We could get a bigger bang for our buck if we just threw in the towel and said everyone's going to drive, so let's build more freeways. But I think people in the Bay Area have more objectives than just relieving congestion. We want the Bay Area to be a nice place to live. We want freeways but we don't want them in our backyards."

Adding 2,261 miles of new lanes _ 1,341 on freeways, 920 on arterial roads _ would save nearly 314 million hours a year now lost by drivers sitting in traffic, the report says. It estimates the cost of providing that relief at $29.2 billion _ about $257 per Bay Area resident.

A road that long could reach from Oakland to Cincinnati. And that much money could cover the estimated cost of building a statewide high-speed rail system with a few billion dollars left over.

"While $29.2 billion may sound like an exceedingly large investment, it is actually just 24.8 percent of the planned transportation spending by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission," the report says.

About 80 percent of Bay Area residents commute by car, according to the report, and 10 percent use public transportation.

"And yet, public transportation accounts for well over half, 64 percent, of the area's planned transportation spending over the next 25 years," the report says.

Rentschler said Bay Area residents, even those who don't use it regularly, favor public transit as part of the transportation system.

Matthew Seubert agreed. The San Francisco resident commutes to his Redwood City job as a San Mateo County planner. He drives to work about half the time and takes the train the rest.

Public funds should be spent on both widening highways and improving transit, and the transportation commission's funding priorities shouldn't change, he said.

"The highways are definitely crowded, but public transportation is a good option because it gives people an alternative to get to work," he said.