SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge opened on September 1, 1956. At the time of construction, the bridge was one of the longest bridges in the world and was constructed at a cost of $62,000,000.

(b) The initial construction, with the help of additional funding provided by the state (Chapter 159 of the Statutes of 1955), provided for the construction of six 12-foot-wide lanes. The six lanes were initially composed of three lanes in both the eastbound and westbound directions.

(c) In 1977, the then little-used third lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was closed to allow for a pipeline to transport 8,000,000 gallons of water a day from the East Bay Municipal Utility District to drought-stricken Marin County. In 1978, the pipeline was removed and the third lane was restriped as an emergency shoulder.

(d) In 1989, following the Loma Prieta earthquake and the closure of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge from October 17 to November 18, inclusive, the third lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was opened in both the eastbound and westbound directions to help ease traffic flow across the bay, and was closed after the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge reopened.

(e) In 2016, the Bay Area Toll Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) declared that the Marin County side of the bridge had “unacceptable levels of service,” not only on the freeway, but also on the local Marin streets in the Cities of Larkspur and San Rafael. As a result, they authorized a $74,000,000 project to reopen the third lane of the lower deck. Completed two years later, the Department of Transportation and MTC reported that the new lane “has eliminated afternoon congestion on eastbound I-580 onto the bridge saving drivers approximately 15 minutes daily on their seven mile trip from Marin to Contra Costa County. This equates to annual savings of 700,000 vehicle-hours of delay on weekdays and another 91,000 vehicle hours on weekends.” The project was put up for awards, and won “Project of the Year” in California.

(f) Unaddressed traffic on the East Bay approach of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge has steadily worsened, even during the pandemic. Each workday, during the morning commute, approximately 18,000 Bay Area residents cross the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. The vast majority of those commuters, 63 percent, are people of color. Sixty-nine percent of them do not have a college degree, and the majority of commuters, 60 percent, make less than the median income in the San Francisco Bay area. Virtually all of these drivers have no other reasonable means to get to work.

(g) As these 18,000 drivers approach the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in the County of Contra Costa, they hit a very significant and growing traffic issue. During the peak hour, on average, they face an added 16 minutes of gridlocked, stop-and-go traffic. This traffic jam on the freeway also backs up local streets and roads in the City of Richmond, impacting many local families residing in traditionally disadvantaged communities.

(h) According to air monitors in the City of Richmond, this morning freeway backup is now the largest source of nonwildfire air pollution in the City of Richmond. This pollution is largely concentrated in disadvantaged communities.

(i) In the interest of social justice, environmental justice, improving traffic flow, maximizing existing resources, reducing greenhouse gases, and reducing the environmental impacts resulting from traffic backup on the westbound Richmond-San Rafael Bridge approach, the Department of Transportation and the Bay Area Toll Authority should consider reopening the third westbound lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to motor vehicle traffic in a manner that considers expanding multimodal transportation, preserving pathways for bicyclists, and reducing localized greenhouse gas emissions.