Contra Costa Times

Adding a pedestrian/bike lane to the 'west span' of the Bay Bridge won't come on the cheap: $550 million is the current estimate. The east span lane, from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland, will be included in the new bridge due to open in late 2013.

Not only are more Californians leaving the state for greener pastures than those moving to it, but the birth rate is dropping as well according to a detailed new demographic report by county on 2010-2011 growth by the state Department of Finance.

The newly formed Alameda County Transportation Commission is proposing a permanent, half-cent sales tax be placed on before the voters of the second most populous Bay Area county for the Nov. 2012 ballot for a variety of transportation purposes.

As bank-owned homes become a source of blight and crime, cities struggle to effectively hold banks accountable for their maintenance. Large banks tend to be the worst offenders, often failing to remove trash and weeds or paying fines.

Public outreach on SB 375, California's climate change bill, began last month in the San Francisco Bay Area. But the East Bay Tea Party had other plans.

Locals in Walnut Creek are up in arms over a proposed In-N-Out Burger. Columnist Tom Barnidge says that while "provincialism often is the catalyst for complaint," there is reason to protest in this case.

...and expands almost nine-fold to be the nation's second largest. While not as proximate to the BART gates as the existing ten-year-old, 400 sq. ft station, it will be only be half a block away.

A Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) rider calls out her least favorite fellow commuters, from inconsiderate people in the handicapped spots to the person munching their fries while everyone is headed home and hungry.

The Bay Area's air pollution regulatory agency may approve in January the nation's first guidelines to limit greenhouse gas emissions for new developments, but it would be up to local governments to enforce them.

With all the 'shovel-ready' talk focused on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, gone unnoticed by many was the huge increase in the transit costs that can be included in the pretax program to assist commuters - $230/month can now be included.