COLLECTION NAME:
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Record
Author:
Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall and Macdonald
Author:
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission
Date:
1956
Short Title:
Text: SUMMARY - Major Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations.
Type:
Text Page
Obj Height cm:
44
Obj Width cm:
56
Region:
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
Subject:
Transportation
Full Title:
(Text Page) SUMMARY - Major Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations.
List No:
6344.010
Page No:
1
Series No:
10
Engraver or Printer:
H.S. Crocker Co. Inc.
Publication Author:
Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall and Macdonald
Publication Author:
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission
Pub Date:
1956
Pub Title:
Regional Rapid Transit; a Report to the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission, 1953-1955.
Pub Note:
Oversize. 106 pp. Author firm later became Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas. "The plan for development of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit [BART] system. "In concluding two years of work here, we are firmly convinced that the answer to ever-increasing traffic congestion in the Bay Area lies in the utilization of high speed, grade-separated, interurban rapid transit as a complementary component to the regional highway network." The previous quoted from the Engineers' transmittal letter. Numerous charts, graphs, proposed rout maps, cost estimates, equipment diagrams, station plans, etc. Very few were published, probably just for members of the commission and some for the regional public libraries." (Robert Gavora, 2022) "In 1953 the work was set to begin on the new BART system. By this time the postwar building boom was in full swing in the region’s suburbs, with new communities springing up and creating what was referred to as urban sprawl. The work had a new sense of urgency, a feeling that time was running out in terms of potential right-of-way availability. With the $750,000 funding supplied by the state and the various Bay Area cities, the transit commission advertised for consultant bids. Four proposals were submitted. On November 12, 1953, the transit commission awarded a contract to the New York–based engineering consortium Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall & MacDonald (PBHM). The firm’s mission was to do a comprehensive study of the nine-county Bay Area from the standpoint of land use and fixed-rail rapid transit. The commission laid out four key questions: (1) Is a rapid transit system needed for the Bay Area? (2) If it is, what areas should it serve and what routes should it take? (3) What type of rapid transit should it be? (4) What will it cost, and will the cost be justified? One of the first tasks was to determine the current travel patterns in as definitive a way as possible. For this the joint venture conducted an origin-destination survey to quantify both commute and non-commute journeys taken each weekday, collecting information on destinations, lengths of trips, and key corridors used. Two years later, on January 5, 1956, PBHM submitted its findings to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission. The report, based on a detailed study of the burgeoning Bay Area community, concluded that there was a pressing need for a balanced approach to meeting the region’s transportation needs, both short-term and long-term. Moreover, the report recommended that a high-speed, grade-separated regional rapid transit system was critical as a complementary component of a highway network, stating also that it was economically justified. It was estimated in 1953 dollars that a rapid transit system serving all nine counties would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion. It was also recommended that such a system should be built in three stages. The first stage would include an underwater tube between Oakland and San Francisco. The first phase as outlined by the consultant’s report included six counties. It called for building a line from San Francisco north to San Rafael in Marin County; south through San Mateo County to Palo Alto and on to Los Altos in Santa Clara County; and east to Concord in Contra Costa County, with Oakland serving as the East Bay hub. The vital link would be the tube built under bay waters. In 1953 dollars the estimated cost for an optimal first phase was $750 million. It would require a debt service of somewhere between $33 and $38 mil lion a year for thirty years. (Found SF, Michael C. Healy, 2022)
Pub List No:
6344.000
Pub Type:
Regional Atlas
Pub Maps:
31
Pub Height cm:
45
Pub Width cm:
58
Image No:
6344010.jp2
Authors:
Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Hall and Macdonald; San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission
