Contra Costa Herald

News Of By and For The People of Contra Costa County, California

Work to be done on Kirker Pass Road Jan. 24 & 25

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The Contra Costa County Public Works Department will perform roadwork on Kirker Pass Road at the intersection of Hess Road (south) on Wednesday and Thursday, January 24 and 25, 2018, weather permitting, to replace the center-divide crash cushion system. 

Traffic will be controlled with temporary single-lane closures reducing the two lanes to a single lane in both directions.  Turning left from Kirker Pass Road (southbound) onto Hess Road will not be permitted during the work.  The lane closures will occur between the hours of 9:00 am – 3:00 pm.  Changeable message sign boards and other construction signs will be placed in advance of the work.      

Martinez breaks ground on final phase of downtown intermodal transportation facility

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The location maps for the Martinez Intermodal Facility in downtown. Courtesy of City of Martinez

The City of Martinez held a final ground-breaking ceremony for the initiation of the third and final phase of the multi-million-dollar Intermodal Facility project in downtown on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The project has spanned over 20 years.

A photo of the previous groundbreaking of Phase 3 of the Intermodal Station in May, 2016 with Martinez City Council members. (Left to right) Mark Ross, Mayor Rob Schroder, Debbie McKillop and Lara DeLaney. Courtesy of City of Martinez

In 1994, the City of Martinez moved forward with the property acquisition of the old railroad yard south of the tracks. Three years later in 1997, the parking lot was constructed along with enhancements to Alhambra Creek, replacement of the railroad bridge, and the addition of two northerly tracks. Later in 2002, the Amtrak Station building, and platforms were completed and opened to the public. The City then acquired the Zocchi property in 2008, which is the parking lot north of where the tracks now exist, for the implementation of Phase 3.

This last phase of the Intermodal Facility, Phase 3, is funded by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) Measure J sales tax revenues. The project is located north of the Amtrak Station and includes a 110-foot long prefabricated steel bridge to be installed over the UPRR tracks, a paved trail along the west south, and east perimeters of the site along with a 30-foot long prefabricated pedestrian bridge near Ferry Street and the UPRR tracks. The project also includes and a new entrance road at the Ferry Street/Joe DiMaggio Drive intersection which connects to the easterly side of the recently constructed parking lot. Other features include an elevator, wetland mitigation, landscaping, and street and parking lot lighting. This work is scheduled to begin this month and be substantially complete by December 2018. Once the structural supports are constructed, the placement of the 110-foot long prefabricated pedestrian bridge crossing the railroad tracks will occur between midnight and 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning (date still to be determined). The City awarded the construction contract to Gordon N. Ball, Inc., (Alamo) with a total bid amount of $6,150,676.00.

CCTA staff members involved in the project included Randell Iwasaki, Hisham Noeimi, and Jack Hall; the design was provided by NV5, Inc., supported by LCC Engineering and Surveying, Inc., BSK Associates, LSA, and Cynthia Easton Architects. Agencies involved in the project include EBRPD, UPRR, Amtrak, CPUC, PG&E, Shell Oil, AT&T, CDF&W, USCOE, and RWQCB.

Please visit these links to view the location map and the pedestrian bridge architectural plan.

See new fares from Pittsburg Center and Antioch Stations

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Screenshot of the Pittsburg Center BART Station animation. From BART.gov

New fare information available now

 

By Allen Payton

According to the BART website’s East County Extension page, parking permits for the new Antioch Station which is planned to open in May along with the Pittsburg Center Station, will be available for purchase beginning January 16. According to BART Director Joel Keller there will be 1,000 parking spaces and about 124 reserved spaces available. However, he said the reserved permits don’t get you a specific spot, just one of the reserved parking spots in the lot.

New Fares

The BART Board adopted the parking fees and fares at the December 7, 2017 board meeting.

BART is applying its existing distance-based fare structure to calculate fares for the new service.  For the 9.1-mile trip between Pittsburg Bay/Bay Point and Antioch Station, the Clipper fare will be $2.00 (starting Jan 1, 2018 there will be a $.50 surcharge on all paper ticket trips).  All BART discount programs will be applied to these fares.

The table below shows 2018 BART to Antioch sample fares using the adult Clipper card, a fare paid for with a paper ticket will be an additional 50 cents.

1/5/18 UPDATE: On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 11 AM, BART will open up the waitlist for passengers that would like to sign up to reserve a monthly permit, which guarantees a parking space until 10am each weekday. There will be a limited number of these permits available and they will be available on a first-come/first-served basis. The cost for the monthly permit will be $105 per month. You will only be charged for the permit if you are offered one and not until the extension officially opens. You may sign up to join when the waitlist at www.Select-a-Spot.com any time after January 16, 2018 at 11am. This website is also available through a link on the www.BART.gov/Parking webpage.

Monthly reserved permits will only be available at the Antioch Station. The Pittsburg Center Station will not offer any reserved parking permits, due to a limited number of parking spaces at the station.

There will be other parking options available as well:

Daily Fee Parking

Both stations will offer daily unreserved parking for a fee of $3. This parking is first-come/first-served in any marked “Fee” lot. Look at signs to the entrance to each section of the lot to determine if it is a “Fee” or “Permit” area. After 10am, any unused Permit spaces are open to all parkers for the Daily Fee.

Permit Parking

The Antioch Station will offer “Permit” parking. Customers with permits will be allowed to park in the designated areas of the parking lot. Permit spaces are available until 10am each weekday morning. After 10am all unused Permit spaces are available to anyone for the Daily Fee. All permits will be available on the www.Select-a-Spot.com website. There also will be a link to that website on www.BART.gov/Parking

Types of Permits:

  • Single Day reserved permits will cost $6 a day.
  • Airport/Long-Term Permits will cost $7 a day.
  • Monthly reserved parking permits will cost $105

 

To view the animation of the Pittsburg Center BART Station, click here. To view the animation of the Antioch BART Station, click here.

Following repairs from storm damage Morgan Territory Road reopens

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Morgan Territory Road residents celebrate its reopening with a barbeque on Sat., Nov. 18. Photo by Scott MacIntyre.

After being closed since February due to a large landslide during winter storms, Morgan Territory Road reopened on Saturday, November 18 at 5:00 p.m. The County’s contractor, Flatiron West, Inc. started the repair project in July. The project included installation of two structural retaining wall systems, excavation and backfill between the walls, reconstruction of pavement, drainage improvements, and pavement striping. The project also included the relocation of water, electric and telephone utilities to accommodate construction. This quality repair project represents the efforts and cooperation of many project partners as well as local, state and federal efforts to expedite this repair project.

Residents who live along the road celebrated with a neighborhood barbeque. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 2 at 10:30 am. The ceremony will take place on Morgan Territory Road at a county owned property opposite Oak Hill Lane to celebrate project completion.

New carpool “Scoop” app pays you $2 for any trip to or from Contra Costa

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Between the 12-cent-per-gallon increase in the gas tax and being able to earn $2 credit each trip, there’s never been a better time to trade your solo commute for a shared ride. Whether you fill an empty seat in your car or catch a ride as a passenger, carpooling is a great way to save money.

Thanks to a partnership between 511 Contra Costa and Scoop, when you use the Scoop app to match with another commuter for your ride to work, you get a $2 credit. As long as your trip starts or ends in Contra Costa, each person in the carpool will receive a $2 credit. Passengers will see the credit automatically applied to their trip, while drivers can cash out the credits they earn.

If you commute to Concord, Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre or Dublin/Pleasanton BART using Scoop, you also get guaranteed parking! (Passengers: use the code CCTA05 to get an additional $5 in Scoop credit – the combined $7 in credit covers the cost of most first rides.)

As part of a carpool, you’ll have access to the HOV lanes and can use the I-680 and I-580 Express Lanes toll-free. (Note: If you’re crossing the Bay Bridge, the Scoop app will match you with two other commuters so you can use the HOV lanes.) If you’re driving to Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre BART, Concord BART or Dublin/Pleasanton BART Stations you’re also guaranteed parking if you arrive before 10am and parking is free.

It’s time to give sharing the ride to work a try.

Earning the $2 credit is easy:

1. Download the Scoop app

2. Enter your account information

3. Use the Scoop app to carpool

$5 SCOOP CREDIT: Enter the code CCTA05 in the Scoop app to get a $5 credit towards your first ride.

To download the Scoop app and get a $5 first-time rider credit, visit our Scoop Special Offer page.

Emergency crews rescue man who crashed car down deep embankment in Byron Tuesday evening

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The driver’s vehicle where it ended down the deep embankment off the Byron Highway, Tuesday evening. Photos by ECCFPD.

Transported to trauma center by medical helicopter

By Allen Payton

A man was able to extricate himself from his heavily damaged car after driving it off the Byron Highway and down a 25-foot, steep embankment Tuesday evening about 5:36 p.m. Seven East Contra Costa Fire personnel arrived on the scene and located the man near his car, near Holey Road in Byron.

East Contra Costa Fire personnel prepare driver for transport by helicopter to the trauma center.

According to the report by Battalion Chief Jack Gonzales, the rescue crew “secured the scene with the use of fire apparatus” and the driver “was provided medical aid and packaged in a stokes basket for a low-angle rescue.”

“AMR provided ALS care” to the man who was then “brought up to the roadway and was transferred to REACH3 (helicopter) for transport,” the report further states.

The driver was by himself in the vehicle and sustained “head and chest trauma” and “was transported…to John Muir Trauma Center in Walnut Creek.”

The accident, which backed up traffic on the Byron Highway, is under investigation by the CHP.

Gov. gives Bay Area voters chance to increase bridge tolls by $3 to fund transportation on next year’s ballot

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The setting sun reflects off of the Carquinez Bridge’s towers. This bridge project was funded through Regional Measure 1. Photo courtesy of MTC.

By Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Governor Brown’s action today to sign into law Senate Bill 595 clears the way for Bay Area voters to decide – potentially as early as next June – on Regional Measure 3 (RM 3), which would raise tolls by up to $3 on the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges to finance the sweeping $4.5 billion package of congestion relief and mobility improvement projects identified in the bill. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), in its role as the Bay Area Toll Authority, is expected to decide by early 2018 when the RM 3 question will appear on ballots in the nine Bay Area counties. The Commission also will decide the amount of the proposed toll increase and whether the proposed increase would be instituted all at once or phased in over several years.

The RM 3 expenditure plan provides mobility improvements in each of the region’s seven state- owned bridge corridors, helping to speed up commutes and provide better travel options, particularly for those traveling to major job hubs, such as San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The plan includes numerous congestion relief projects in the bridge corridors, including new express lanes, a direct freeway connector from northbound U.S. 101 to eastbound Interstate 580 in Marin County to improve access to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge as well as improvements to the westbound approach in Contra Costa County; constructing a direct connector between Interstates 680 and 880 in Fremont and improvements to the I-680/State Route 84 interchange in Alameda County serving the Dumbarton Bridge; upgrading the I-680/State Route 4 interchange in Contra Costa County serving the Benicia Bridge corridor and the U.S. 101/State Route 92 interchange in San Mateo serving the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge; various improvements to relieve congestion in the Dumbarton Bridge corridor and improve State Route 37 in Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties; completing the widening of U.S. 101 to three lanes in each direction through the Marin-Sonoma Narrows. Major public transit improvements that would be funded by the measure include 306 new BART cars that will expand the fleet to accommodate record ridership; new ferries and expanded service and terminals across San Francisco Bay; further extension of BART’s Silicon Valley service to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara; extending Caltrain to downtown San Francisco; expanding transbay bus service and AC Transit’s bus rapid transit lines serving the transbay corridor; extending the new SMART rail system to Windsor; and expanding San Francisco’s fleet of Muni Metro rail cars to improve transit access not just to San Francisco, but within it as well. RM 3 also would fund a $150 million grant program to improve bicycle and pedestrian access to regional transit hubs and to close gaps in the San Francisco Bay Trail.

“Nobody likes higher tolls,” commented MTC Chair and Rohnert Park Mayor Jake Mackenzie. “But nobody likes traffic jams or crush-loaded train cars either. The Bay Area has been blessed by seven straight years of strong economic growth. But the price we’ve paid is the growing congestion on our freeways, railways and ferries. If our region is going to maintain its economic leadership, we have to invest in projects that will keep businesses and their workers moving. Gov. Brown and the state Legislature deserve a lot of credit for shaping RM 3 into a comprehensive and integrated strategy that will modernize both our highways and our transit networks.”

For details on the complete range of investments that would be funded if a majority of voters in the nine Bay Area counties approve RM 3, go to the MTC website or see the complete list, here.

MTC is the transportation planning, financing, and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

Delays expected from culvert work on Morgan Territory Road Oct. 17 & 18

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Contra Costa County Public Works Department will perform culvert work on Morgan Territory Road approximately 8 miles south of the intersection with Marsh Creek Road, beginning on Tuesday, October 17 through Wednesday, October 18. The work will occur between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. This work may be rescheduled based on weather conditions. There will be traffic control through the work area and drivers can expect delays of up to 30 minutes.

Reps. DeSaulnier, Smucker introduce bipartisan bill to spur innovative changes to transportation systems

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Washington, DC – Today, Wednesday, October 4, 2017, as we recognize National Smart Cities Week, U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Members Representatives Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) announced bipartisan legislation that would establish $100 million in new grant funding for cities to invest in and use innovative technologies and solutions for the purpose of improving transportation and mobility. The Moving FIRST Act (H.R. 3901) was introduced to build upon the Department of Transportation’s Smart Cities Challenge, by increasing the funding available and making it an annual grant opportunity.

“Seventy five percent of all Americans are expected to live in urban areas by 2050. We need to invest in the best way to move our people and our goods in ways that reduce congestion, improve public health, and are tailored to the needs of our communities,” said DeSaulnier. “We’ve already seen how smart technologies succeed in the Bay Area and California, and I am proud to partner with my colleague Representative Smucker to create grant opportunities for cities across the nation, and of all sizes, to advance cutting edge technologies.”

“This week is National Smart Cities Week – a perfect time to refocus our efforts in support of innovative and creative solutions to help our cities work better,” said Smucker. “Investments in smart infrastructure projects help move people to job centers, products to market, and connect economic hubs. Expanding initiatives like the Smart Cities Challenge will help kick start improvements in transit and connectivity in cities like Lancaster and Reading. I am glad to work with Rep. DeSaulnier to introduce the Moving FIRST Act and I look forward to continuing my work to improve our nation’s infrastructure.”

H.R. 3901 would make annual grant awards available to communities of all different sizes which seek to advance projects like autonomous vehicle technology and sensor-based infrastructure in order to meet the transportation challenges they face. Specifically, the bill establishes the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Challenge Grant, which will annually award:

  • A large city with up to $50 million in grant funding
  • A mid-sized city with up to $50 million in grant funding
  • Two rural communities or regional partnerships with up to $20 million in grant funding or 20% of the total funds available

Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Richard Burr (R-NC) introduced companion legislation, S. 1809, in the Senate.

National Smart Cities Week brings together city leaders, innovative companies, and policymakers to engage in a national dialogue to better understand and prepare for the ways new technologies will impact the cities of the future.

Tri Delta Transit launches new mobile app for security

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As of Monday, October 2, Tri Delta Transit is offering ‘Tri Delta Watch,’ a mobile security app that instantly allows riders to notify police or dispatchers of security incidents on buses and at bus stops. The free app allows riders to anonymously send text reports with pictures or videos to dispatchers who can respond to or address the problem. Contacting local police directly is an option of the app, which is made simple via a one-click 911 button for more serious situations.

The free security application is available at the Apple App Store and Google Play for iPhone and Android devices; search Tri Delta Watch. Once downloaded, riders can report suspicious activity, and incidents that might require law enforcement’s presence on board Tri Delta Transit buses.

“Occurrences that might merit the use of the app are extremely rare on our buses,” said Mike Furnary, Director of Marketing. “Having the app is just another means to help us keep it that way.”

Tri Delta Watch and similar security apps are important new components in the industry’s effort to enhance safety for customers and drivers. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security adopted the “If You See Something, Say Something” public awareness campaign in 2010. Transit agencies, including Tri Delta Transit, have launched a variety of advertising and outreach efforts to educate riders about the importance of being vigilant in reporting suspicious, illegal or inappropriate behavior and activities, as well as unattended packages.

The smartphone app allows customers to assist security efforts by reporting suspicious activity in a timely manner. When a rider sees a suspicious situation, with the click of a button, they can directly call police or discretely submit a report with photos or video, incident descriptions, and GPS coordinates to transit officials. If the user chooses to submit a picture or video, the camera flash is automatically disabled to not draw attention to the rider.

The mobile app allows riders to report incidents such as suspicious activity, disruptive behavior, crime in progress, and security or safety issues. Riders may also report immediately threatening situations such as fighting, or attacks on drivers.

Once a report is initiated, real-time two-way communication is enabled. Dispatchers may ask the rider for more details about the situation or provide instructions, as needed. In the event of an active incident, the dispatcher and reporter are able to communicate concerning details about those involved, what bus they are on, and assessment of the suspect’s behavior. The dispatcher can advise and communicate with the customer or contact the appropriate person or agency for assistance if necessary.

“Safety and security begins with all of us,” said Furnary. “If you see something, say something.”

Tri Delta Transit provides over 3,000,000 trips each year to a population of over 250,000 residents in the 225 square miles of Eastern Contra Costa County. They operate 13 local bus routes Monday – Friday, 4 local bus routes on weekends, door-to-door bus service for senior citizens and people with disabilities, and shuttle services to community events. For additional information about Tri Delta Transit, please visit www.trideltatransit.com.