The Mercury News Weekend

Is interchang­e at Hwy. 4, I-680 worst in Bay Area?

- Gary Richards Columnist Contact Gary Richards at grichards@ bayareanew­sgroup.com or 408-920- 5037.

QAny update on when work will start on the interchang­e at Highway 4 and Interstate 680 in Concord? It’s the worst interchang­e in the Bay Area. — Barbara Chambers

AWhoa. Worse than 580- 680, 92-101, 1-17, 25-101 and 101-880? We need to conduct a poll of the worst interchang­es in the area. (101-880 would be my choice). As for the interchang­e at Highway 4 and I- 680, the California Transporta­tion Commission will vote on funding in May with constructi­on beginning at the end of the year to lengthen the short weaving space here, widen Highway 4 and do a bunch of other stuff.

QCaliforni­a requires warning signs for red light cameras, but I have never seen these signs. Have you? — David Ogilvie, South San Francisco

AYep. Cities that use red-light cameras can post warning signs in a couple of ways. One is

Qon streets leading into a city (think Fremont) but not necessaril­y at each intersecti­on. The other is to position them just ahead of an intersecti­on with a camera such as 19th Avenue in San Francisco. When will the new SF Transbay Terminal open for AC Transit service? I take the bus every day, and the drive from the Bay Bridge to the temporary terminal takes an additional 1015 minutes. Once the new terminal is open there will be a dedicated AC Transit on-ramp and offramp from the bridge which will cut the commute time. I have read many articles that give different dates, but I can’t find a single source of truth. The latest one said “maybe June” but that they were “exploring options to prevent it from opening in August or later”. Huh? And there is no update on the its website. It says “substantia­l completion in 2017”, which is not the clearly not the case. — John Dee, Oakland

ANo official date yet. I’m betting late summer.

QI think that you completely missed the point of Bob Mirada’s message. You described all the parking changes at the Walnut Creek and Lafayette BART stations, but his question is valid.

Why would they tear up a parking lot before they fixed a neighborin­g one? Yes, there is lots of work to do, but there should be some intelligen­t planning to minimize the impact. — John Schultheis

AFrustrati­ng this is, but money is a big reason. Projects like these include multiple funding sources and with that comes the expectatio­n that dollars allocated will be spent promptly.

Plus, these stations have been around for decades and have already waited long enough for these needed improvemen­ts. Some pain now, but relief coming soon.

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