BART Looks to the Future With Land Use Management and Transportation Forum.

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 10, 1999--

Leaders from around the Bay Area gathered today at a Land Use Management and Transportation Forum to look at how the region, with its exploding economy and population growth can meet critical transportation needs in the years ahead.

The Forum, entitled "Where do We Grow from Here?" and sponsored by BART, was held this morning from 8:30 until 12 noon at the Oakland Marriott Hotel. It brought together state, regional, and local leaders to address the concept and challenge of marrying land use and transportation planning, and in particular where BART should go in the new millenium.

A featured speaker at the Forum was Berkeley Architect Peter Calthorpe, author of The Next American Metropolis and a strong proponent of integrating land use with transportation. Overall, Calthorpe called for combining the building of rail transit with development, which he said can influence travel behavior. The proximity to public transit makes it a market-wise approach.

BART Board President Dan Richard said that with the burgeoning congestion on our roads and freeways currently being experienced by Bay Area residents, and the projected growth over 1.4 million people over the next twenty years, it's past time to look at how transportation will best serve the region in the future.

Richard noted that there is tremendous interest in BART extending south to San Jose, or circling the bay, as well as extending to Antioch in Eastern Contra Costa County and to Livermore in Eastern Alameda County.

"We as a community must start thinking in new ways if we are to meet the growing needs of a population that is spreading in various directions," he said. "I believe the key, or certainly one of the keys, is in the synergy that can be created by bringing together land use and BART expansion as a package deal."

Richard said that as an example the development of a livable community, which includes a transit station, could not only help to fund such rail expansion in the future but would counter the tendency toward creating more urban sprawl.

It was estimated that over 200 people attended the Forum, including State Senator Don Perata of Alameda, State Assemblyman Tom Torlakson of Contra Costa County, Assemblywoman Dion Aroner of Alameda County, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, and Executive Director of the Bay Area Council Sunne McPeak who moderated the Forum. BART Director Tom Radulovich did the introductions.