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Federal funds lend a hand to S.F.'s ailing Doyle Drive
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Doyle Drive, which is 70 years old and has the state’s worst rating in terms of seismic stability, could benefit from $158 million in federal funds.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - To help fight gridlock, the Bay Area has received nearly $158 million in federal funds — some of which will be used to create a toll system on Doyle Drive, the roadway that connects San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Bay Area was one of five metropolitan areas nationwide chosen for the new Urban Partnership grant program, which aims to reduce heavy traffic using approaches including tolling, public transit, tele-working and congestion pricing.
Doyle Drive is more than 70 years old and has the state’s worst rating in terms of seismic stability, according to Jose Luis Moscovich, executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. The cost to rebuild the one-and-a-half-mile stretch is estimated at $810 million.
Of the $158 million awarded to the Bay Area, $35 million is to help defray the project’s $190 million funding shortfall. Another $12 million is for electronic tolling equipment for Doyle Drive, the revenue from which would be used to fill in the funding gap for the replacement project.
According to federal officials, San Francisco has until June 30, 2009, to put its plan in place. Moscovich said the timeline on the toll is much tighter.
“One of the conditions of the grant is we need to get implementation of a toll within the next nine months,” he said, noting that the fee would be collected electronically through overhead sensors, not at a separate tollbooth. “We’re not going to wait until Doyle Drive is reconstructed to put a toll on it.”
All Urban Partner grant proposals were required to include some form of congestion pricing — which penalizes drivers for using key thoroughfares during peak driving hours.
New York City received $354 million for its congestion-pricing proposal, which includes charging traffic fees to drive into downtown Manhattan.
Mayor Gavin Newsom said he was not the “strongest advocate” for congestion pricing, but the realities of increased congestion required that the idea be studied. He said a toll on Doyle Drive was not yet a done deal.
“It’s controversial, it needs to be studied and considered,” Newsom said.
The remainder of the grant funding will be used to support San Francisco’s SFgo system, a real-time traffic-management system that includes traffic signal coordination at 500 key intersections; new parking payment systems to manage congestion in downtown and Civic Center; expansion of the Bay Area’s 511 transportation information system; a program to link FasTrak and TransLink; and improved parking for Golden Gate Ferry users.
Do you think a toll on Doyle Drive is a good idea?
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Comments from Examiner Readers
10:47 AM MST on Wed., Aug. 15, 2007 re: "Federal funds lend a hand to S.F.'s ailing Doyle Drive"
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9:37 AM MST on Wed., Aug. 15, 2007
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9:36 AM MST on Wed., Aug. 15, 2007
re: "New Doyle Drive may give Presidio breathing room"
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Irvin Dawid/Palo Alto said:
The idea that users of the road (Doyle Drive in this case) should pay to rebuild it makes as much sense as putting any kind of a 'fee for service', such as paying to park, paying to see a movie, etc. What's gotten us into this mess where we are so dependent upon driving to meet our mobility needs is that we don't pay to drive - instead, those costs are just bundled with other costs. Paying directly for driving on a road makes it clear to the motorist that there is a price tag associated with using a roadway that needs to be rebuilt.
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Gregg said:
Put a toll on Doyle Drive? Horrible idea. I live just blocks away from Doyle Drive and often need to use it to get to Park Presidio and the western part of SF, including Richmond district Chinatown for groceries... do you honestly think I'm going to pay $1 to travel on it for a short distance? Forget it. --- And where would they place this toll system? There's no room. What will they do, tear down the Palace of Fine Arts? Back up Lombard and Marina Blvd in the evenings so traffic is gridlocked in the Marina back up to Van Ness? Who thought up this hairbrained idea? --- Look, I know everybody is hot and heavy about tolling everything. But crap, don't I already pay taxes? Just sell a freakin' bond or raise my taxes $50 a year, but for Pete's sakes, stop freaking tolling EVERYTHING... on this one I wholeheartedly DISAGREE WITH GAVIN. --- NO TOLLS ON DOYLE. Impractical. Illogical. Just dumb.
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Examiner Reader said:
I live in the Presidio and know there is a way to avoid Doyle drive after going through the toll gate, when other figure it out, there will be a massive traffic problem with People cutting through the Presidio
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