PENINSULA’S HIGHWAY 101 TRAFFIC CRISIS DESERVES AND GETS ACTION

The Bay Area Council’s work over the past year to speed traffic relief on the badly congested Highway 101 corridor between San Francisco and San Jose took a major step forward this week with new legislation (AB 378) introduced by Assemblymember Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo). The bill includes a number of solutions the Council identified through its work Silicon Valley and Peninsula member companies and that we believe can be game-changers in easing gridlock. Among the solutions are expanding carpool lanes, deploying advanced traffic management technologies and aggressively promoting ridesharing apps. There is much at stake. Traffic delays along one of the nation’s most economically productive corridors have grown intolerable, collectively worsening the commute by 760 hours a day on average and fast emerging as a strategic business issue for employers. The Council applauds Assemblymember Mullin for his great leadership on this issue and will be working closely with him in the coming weeks to add further detail to the solutions proposed in AB 378. To engage in our transportation policy work, contact Senior Vice President Michael Cunningham.