Regional Measure 3

To help solve the Bay Area's growing congestion problems, MTC worked with the state Legislature to authorize a ballot measure that would finance a comprehensive suite of highway and transit improvements through an increase of tolls on the region's seven state-owned toll bridges. Senate Bill 595 (authored by then-Sen. Jim Beall of San Jose) was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Brown in fall 2017.

Toll revenues will be used to finance a $4.45 billion slate of highway and transit improvements in the toll bridge corridors and their approach routes.

Major projects in the RM 3 expenditure plan include new BART cars to accommodate growing ridership; extending BART’s Silicon Valley service to Santa Clara; extending Caltrain to downtown San Francisco; expanding S.F. Muni’s transit vehicle fleet; more frequent transbay bus service; interchange improvements in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties; an expanded express lane network; expanded ferry service; a direct freeway connector from northbound U.S. 101 in Marin County to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge; upgrades to relieve congestion in the Dumbarton Bridge corridor; improving State Route 37; extending the new SMART rail system to Windsor and Healdsburg and much more. Review the complete Regional Measure 3 Expenditure Plan.

Voter approval of RM 3 raised tolls on the region's state-owned toll bridges by $1 beginning Jan. 1, 2019. Tolls were increased by another $1 in January 2022 with another $1 increase set for January 2025. The 2019 increase marked the first toll hike on the seven state-owned bridges since 2010.

The new toll schedule established by RM 3 was formally approved by BATA in December 2018 through adoption of BATA Resolution No. 128. The Authority also adopted BATA Resolution No. 129, which authorized the escrow of Regional Measure 3 funds pending resolution of legal challenges to Senate Bill 595 and Regional Measure 3. These challenges ultimately were dismissed by the California Supreme Court in January 2023. BATA in March 2023 voted to release the escrow funds and terminate the escrow account. The Commission began making RM 3 allocations in June 2023.

Bay Area voters have twice previously approved toll increases for regional transportation improvements. This map details the major projects funded by those measures.

Projects funded through Regional Measure 1 (1988) include the Richmond Parkway, San Mateo-Hayward Bridge widening, the new Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge across the Carquinez Strait, widening of the Bayfront Expressway in San Mateo County, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge rehab, the new Benicia-Martinez Bridge, rehab of the original 1962 Benicia-Martinez Bridge, and reconstruction of the Interstate 880/State Route 92 interchange in Hayward.

Regional Measure 2 (2004) provided funding to advance the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore, San Francisco's Central Subway, Interstate 80/680 interchange upgrades in Solano County, State Route 4 widening in eastern Contra Costa County, the e-BART extension to Pittsburg and Antioch, seismic retrofit of the BART Transbay Tube, the BART-Oakland Airport connector, the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, and BART's extension from Fremont to Warm Springs.

Regional Measure 2 also provides ongoing operating support for the Clipper® transit-fare payment card, and for key bus, ferry and light-rail services around the region.