The Route 4 – Free Ride Trolley – will detour in the Northbound direction on Saturday, July 17 to serve the opening festivities at the new Walnut Creek library.

• Traveling from the Broadway Plaza, from North Main St., the bus will turn right on Cypress, and left on Broadway to stop in front of the library.
• The bus will then cross Civic Dr. and turn left on Carlback to Main St. and resume the regular route.
• Stops at Main at Bonanza and Main at Civic will not be served in the Northbound direction on Saturday only.

WestCAT, in partnership with 511 Contra Costa, will kick off the summer by bringing back the popular “Buy One Get One Free” promo for transbay express bus riders who are willing to park their cars and try the Lynx for their work commute between Hercules and the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco.

Beginning July 1, 2010 customers purchasing a $140 general public or $70 senior/disabled 31-Day Lynx transbay bus pass will receive a second pass free! (31-Day Pass is good for 31 consecutive days from first day of use). This promotion will coincide with the Bay Area Bridge toll increase and the introduction of new expanded midday Lynx service all scheduled for July 1st. A preview of the new Lynx timetables will be available on WestCAT’s web site the last week in June.

“WestCAT and 511 Contra Costa staff agreed that restarting this promotion would be a really great way to assist people who after July 1st will be looking for alternatives to driving alone or casual carpooling to and from work” said Yvonne Morrow, WestCAT Marketing Coordinator.

Eligibility requirements and program rules do apply. Click here to download an application: WestCAT Lynx Application, July 2010

Applications for the promotion will also be available onboard WestCAT Lynx buses and online at www.westcat.org, and at the WestCAT office, 601 Walter Ave., Pinole, CA, 94564. Previous participants may contact WestCAT for eligibility questions at (510) 724-3331.

Free 31-day pass is sponsored by 511 Contra Costa and made possible with grants from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Transportation Fund for Clean Air and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s ½ cent sales tax for Transportation Improvement Projects.

Evening on the Trails was a huge success on May 13^th, an event geared toward getting families out on the Iron Horse and Canal Trails on Bike to Work Day. Our winner, Emmett Lutz, received a gift certificate for a bike and rode to our office to show it off.

Concord, Calif. – County Connection bus passengers eliminated 20,582 pounds of carbon dioxide from the environment each weekday in April by using the bus instead of driving a car. Carbon dioxide emission reductions are determined using the average weekday ridership and average trip length, then factoring out those who would have driven a car if the bus was not available. To learn about bus service in your neighborhood, call 676-7500 or visit www.cccta.org.

Source: County Connection news release – County Connection CO2 Emissions Reduced In April, May 27, 2010

The closures are scheduled for 9 pm to 10 am the next morning on the following nights:

• June 4,  5
• June 11, 12
• June 18, 19

Detour signs will be posted.

Download the construction flyer for closure details and a detour plan.

For questions or concerns, contact:

Nick Panayotou
Resident Engineer
650-642-5299
Nick@HannaGrp.com

Source:

• Contra Costa Times
• City of Pleasant Hill

It looks as if they have the sound walls up. The sound walls looked like dinosaur bones poking out of the ground when they were first going in.  According to cadecott-tunnel.org the sound walls are 1000 feet long, 30 feet high and will stand between the construction staging area at the west portal and the condominiums along Caldecott Lane. The wall is only temporary, built to block the noise and visual impacts from the construction work until the project’s completion. Trees will be planted between the soundwall and Caldecott Lane. For more information on the soundwall construction go to www.caldecott-tunnel.org

Families and area residents are encouraged to climb aboard their bikes to explore the Iron Horse and Contra Costa Canal trails, visiting energizer stations for complimentary refreshments, giveaways, bicycling safety tips and a raffle for a new bike. The stops include Civic, Heather Farm, Larkey and Walden parks.

For more information:

• Call: 925-969-0841, ext. 207
• Read the Contra Costa Times article: Evening on the Trails offers family fun after hours
• Visit our Bike to Work Day page and scroll down to: Evening on the Trails: An After-Hours Family Bicycling Event to download the event flyer

On Monday, May 3, 2010, Spare the Air announced the beginning of Smog season for the Bay Area. During the summer months, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District will issue Spare the Air Smog Alerts when the air quality forecast is considered to be unhealthy.

For more information about air pollution in the Bay Area, visit the Spare the Air website at www.sparetheair.org. You can also get air quality information and Spare the Air alerts delivered to your mobile device by downloading our free iPhone application, iSmog.

Three ChargePoint Stations Located in Downtown Martinez to be Unveiled on Earth Day, 4/22/10, 11:00 am at City Hall

Martinez, CA – The City of Martinez is proud to announce that it will become the fifth Bay Area city to install ChargePoint® Networked Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles (EV). The three 120V stations, manufactured by Coulomb Technologies, a leader in EV charging station infrastructure, are located in and around downtown Martinez, including one at City Hall; one at Main and Court streets; and one at the Amtrak Station.

The official unveiling takes place during a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, 2010 at Martinez City Hall, located at 525 Henrietta Street. City officials including Mayor Robert Schroder and representatives from Coulomb Technologies will be on hand for the ceremony, which will include a demonstration of the station in use with a Prius plug-in hybrid vehicle.

Installing the EV charging stations was important to the City of Martinez because it demonstrates support for cleaner transportation. Non-highway vehicle emissions accounted for almost 50 percent of the City’s overall greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. Affording the public convenient and accessible ways to utilize transportation options more friendly to the environment, such as charging stations for electric vehicles, is essential to the overall process of reducing the City’s carbon footprint and supports the goals of the City’s adopted Climate Action Plan.

The Martinez charging stations will be available for use by consumers for their personal electric vehicles, as well as by City staff to charge the City’s fleet of four electric vehicles used for local transportation in the downtown area. Martinez joins San Jose, San Francisco, Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill as Bay Area cities that have networked charging stations installed. Other areas in Northern California include Campbell, Sonoma County and Chico.

Vehicles that are currently being sold and that can use these charging stations include the Wheego, the GEM (Global Electric Motorcar) and the Prius plug-in hybrid. Other vehicles scheduled to come on the market in 2010 include the BMW Mini E, Tesla Roadster, Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, and Triac by Green Vehicles. Anyone that comes to the unveiling event on April 22nd with one of the above plug-in vehicles will receive a card good for 10 free charging sessions.

“EV drivers have one more EV-friendly destination for their Bay Area travels as we welcome the City of Martinez to the ChargePoint Network,” said Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “These installations bring us one step closer to a metropolitan region where drivers can take their EV’s for all of their transportation needs and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions for a cleaner Bay Area that is less dependent on foreign oil.”

Measure C funding for the three EV charging stations was provided by 511 Contra Costa (the transportation demand management agency for local jurisdictions and the county) and approved by TRANSPAC. The Measure C funds are ½ cent sales tax for transportation improvement projects and are collected through the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and used to deliver local projects and programs. TRANSPAC is made up of elected officials and staff from each central Contra Costa County City (Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Concord, Clayton, Martinez, and unincorporated portions of the county).

The network of electric vehicle charging stations is accessible to all plug-in drivers by making a toll free call to the 24/7 number on each charging station, or signing up for a ChargePoint Network monthly access plan and obtaining a ChargePass™ smart card. Other future payment options include using any smart (RFID) credit/debit card to authorize a session or using a standard credit or debit card at a remote payment station (RPS) to pay for charging sessions. To locate available charging stations, visit mychargepoint.net and click “Find Stations.”

About Coulomb Technologies, Inc.

Coulomb Technologies (http://www.coulombtech.com) is the leader in electric vehicle charging station infrastructure with networked charging stations installed in municipalities and organizations worldwide. Coulomb provides a vehicle-charging infrastructure, with an open system driver network. For more information, follow Coulomb on Twitter at twitter.com/coulombevi.

Media Contacts:

Michael Chandler
Senior Management Analyst
City of Martinez
925-372-3517
mchandler@cityofmartinez.org

Anne Smith
Coulomb Technologies, Inc.
408-313-8089
anne@annesmithcommunications.com

Corinne Dutra-Roberts
Sr. Transportation Analyst
511 Contra Costa
925-969-1193
corinne@511contracosta.org

Lamorinda Transportation Commuter Fair
Wed. April 28, 11:30am-1:30pm
Lafayette Library & Learning Center Community Hall
3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd & First Street

The Transportation Commuter Fair will benefit all employers and employees who travel to, through or from Contra Costa County. Lamorinda employers and employees are especially encourage to attend. Visit our booths to learn how to improve your commute.

Stop by to:

• Lower your Commuter Costs
• Apply for a Free Guaranteed Ride Home
• Discover Available Parking Options
• Get ready for Bike to Work Day May 13, 2010
• Register for the “Spare the Air 2010” Program
• Get FREE Lunch and Goodies!
• Save you & your Employer Money
• Find Alternatives to Driving
• Find a Carpool or Vanpool Partner

Sponsored by 511 Contra Costa in cooperation with the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Transportation Fund for Clean Air.

For more information contact:

Darlene Amaral, Lamorinda 511 Contra Costa Representative
(925) 973-2655
damaral@511contracosta.org
www.511contracosta.org