UC-Davis Sponsors "Sanframento" Cconference

UC-Davis Sponsors "Sanframento" Cconference
East Bay Business Times - by David Goll
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

The growing economic and geographical closeness of the Bay Area and Sacramento region will be explored during a summit Thursday at the UC-Davis campus.

The event is being co-sponsored by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments -- regional planning agencies both based in Oakland -- and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. Also participating are officials of the California Department of Transportation and the Solano Transportation Authority.

Summit participants will share initial results from a study of how the two sprawling metropolitan areas can improve the coordination of transportation investments, land-use planning and travel "modeling" along the Interstate 80 corridor and Amtrak's Capitol Corridor train service that connects the Sacramento region with the East Bay on its way to San Jose and Santa Clara.

"Solano County is a great place to see the growth of a mega-region connecting the Bay Area and Sacramento," Jim Spering, MTC commissioner and Solano County supervisor, said in a statement. "One of the best illustrations is the planned Vacaville Intermodal Station, which will provide a single convenient location for commuters to catch express buses either to downtown Sacramento or to the Pleasant Hill BART or El Cerrito del Norte BART stations."

Christopher Cabaldon, mayor of West Sacramento, said the two regions are "building a strategic partnership to develop a list of goods-movement priorities to benefit all of Northern California. One of the keys to reducing traffic on Interstate 80 is deepening the Sacramento deep water ship channel. That will take up to 23,000 truck trips between the Bay Area and Sacramento off the road each year."

The summit is free and open to the public, but space is limited and pre-registration required. For more information, go to www.mtc.ca.gov/meetings/events/interregional_summit.htm.

The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Room 232 of the ARC building at 1 Shields Ave. on the UC-Davis campus.

dgoll@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1436