The following ramble is yet another political science essay, this time dealing with the transportation issues affecting the area of Hayward, California. Enjoy!

Transportation: Hayward and Beyond

California is one of the most heavily traveled states in the nation, with literally hundreds of highways and freeways. California is also notorious for its heavy traffic, especially during commute hours. A prime example of California traffic can be found in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Hayward. The Hayward region is boarded by several of the major freeways and highways in the Bay Area. Interstate 880 runs along the western edge of the region, and provides a link from Oakland to San Jose. Interstate 580 runs along the north east area, and provides a route to the Pleasenton/Livermore and Central Valley areas. Highway 238 is divided into two sections. The first, also known as Mission Blvd., runs along the eastern edge of the valley that most of Hayward is located. The second provides a short freeway link between I-580 and I-880 in the north west part of Hayward. Highway 92 runs through the heart of Hayward and provides a link to the Peninsula area via the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. Add to the confluence of several major highways, a city population of over 140,000, and the location of a California State University in Hayward, and that can add up to some heavy traffic situations, and the fact that traffic congestion was up 6% in Alameda County overall compared to last year, despite traffic trends going down all over the rest of the Bay Area. So what are some measures being taken to ease this situation?
First of all, one needs to look at the traffic situations on the existing freeways. I-580 and I-880 are both major corridors that carry thousands of cars per day. Some of the key projects proposed or already being undertaken include: the widening and seismic retrofitting of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge; the reconstruction of the interchange of Route 92 and I-880, HOV Carpool Lanes along I-880 to the Santa Clara County area; and the section of Route 238 which runs between I-580 and I-880 is being widened. This section of Rte. 238 is an especially congested section of highway and is in need of such a widening. But there is more in the works for 238. A proposal is on the board for a 4 to 6 lane freeway running through the hills of Hayward, called the Hayward bypass. This would seem like a good long term plan, as it would get much of the surface street traffic off of Mission Blvd in Hayward (route 238) as well as Foothill Blvd. And Hwy. 92 as well as relieve congestion at one of the busiest intersections in Hayward, the Foothill/Mission/92 intersection, and divert traffic needing to go to CSU Hayward. However, this project is in serious jeopardy due to the environmental and social concerns around it. Open space in the hills, habitats for plants and animals, as well as 300 homes in Hayward would need to be demolished to make way for the proposed freeway. Earlier this year, the proposal for the Hayward Bypass looked in danger of being blocked by the courts. Because the proposal is in danger of being shut down, other solutions are presenting themselves, such as the re-grading of the Mission/Foothill/92 interchange in Downtown Hayward to allow better traffic flow to CSUH, the widening of Mission Blvd, and improvements of the interchanges of several major Hayward thoroughfares at I-880 including A Street and Winton Way, and expanded shuttle service to CSU Hayward.
However, one trend begins to take place in many of the projects proposed. Instead of trying to come up with a viable long-term solution, most of the projects being proposed are little more than quick fixes. Instead of looking how to deal with the actual situation at hand, the cause of the traffic, most policy makers choose instead to try and allow for the traffic rather than try and get rid of the traffic altogether. It's no secret that California is one of the fastest growing states in the nation, and despite the recent busts in the dot-com sector of the Bay Area and the recent downturns of the economy, growth continues to be on the rise. To account for growth, transportation policy makers have chosen a policy of incrementalism to try and deal with the increased volume of traffic on highways. That is to say, if a highway isn't big enough, or isn't designed well enough, the highway will be continually enlarged little by little until it is big enough. The problem with this is that the highway can only be so big. Widening projects take place in and around the Hayward area, and may also work to a certain degree in the short term. However, it doesn't seem feasible that many more projects of such a magnitude could take place, due to the fact that Hayward is already a fairly built up area with a large population.
So what can be done in the long term to help the problem of traffic and transportation in the Hayward area? Despite the fact overall traffic congestion fell in the Bay Area over the past year, traffic increased in Alameda County and Contra Costa County. The cause of this is due to the fact that more and more people are seeking housing in the relatively open and cheap eastern spaces of these counties in communities such as Antioch, Livermore, Brentwood, and Tracy. Other East Bay communities such as Concord, Walnut Creek, Dublin, San Ramon, and Pleasenton are also in great demand for housing. Despite the fact that some of these people may live 40 miles away from Hayward, they are commuting to this area, or at least through this area, to get to another destination such as Oakland, San Francisco, or San Jose. One solution to this problem would be to extend BART to these communities. However, it took 20 years just to extend the BART system from Concord to Pittsburgh and from Hayward to Dublin. Extending it to eastern areas like Brentwood and Tracy might take another 20 years, not to mention BART still doesn't visit important areas such as San Jose, or San Francisco International Airport. Not to mention if you already live far from a BART station or other public transportation terminal, you would already need to make a drive just to get there. Housing seems to be the key to solving the transportation issue. Making more available and affordable housing in and around the areas that people need to commute too would be the best long-term solution. This wouldn't be an easy solution, but it's the only way to get the traffic off the streets. A 20-lane highway can be built pretty easily, but a time will come when all 20 lanes are filled to the brim with cars.

Sources:
"Defying Bay Area trend, East Bay traffic increases" The Mercury News, August 12th, 2002 http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/3883025.htm

Bay Area Census-City of Hayward http://census.abag.ca.gov/cities/Hayward.htm

Bay Area Toll Authority-San Mateo-Hayward Bridge http://www.mtc.ca.gov/bata/sm-hayward.htm

1998 Regional Transportation Plan Interstate 880 Corridor http://www.mtc.ca.gov/publications/RTP/880.htm

Stop the Hayward Bypass http://www.transcoalition.org/bypass/index.html