BAY AREA / Agency announces top transit priorities / Group whittles list for regional share of state bond funds

BAY AREA / Agency announces top transit priorities / Group whittles list for regional share of state bond funds: "
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BAY AREA
Agency announces top transit priorities
Group whittles list for regional share of state bond funds
- Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, December 9, 2006

Like wide-eyed kids waiting to see Santa, Bay Area planners have a $4 billion wish list for how to spend new highway money created by a voter-approved transportation bond measure.

And like parents with a budget, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the region's transportation planning and financing agency, suggested Friday afternoon how that wish list should be trimmed.

The agency's recommendations -- cut down to $1.9 billion in projects -- includes a fourth Caldecott Tunnel bore; carpool lanes on highways 101 and 4 and interstates 80, 580 and 680; a new San Francisco approach to the Golden Gate Bridge; a truck-climbing lane over the Altamont Pass; a new Cordelia Junction interchange for interstates 80 and 680 and Highway 12; and a regional system that would use technology to manage traffic.

The projects are competing for a total of $4.5 million in congestion-relief money for"