Infrastructure Weak

Golden Gate Transit will receive "0.40 percent of all revenues generated within the territory of the City and County of San Francisco to the commission for allocation to Golden Gate Transit for transit operations expenses."

Not sure how much that is projected to be, or what deficit they are facing.

This is how many sources of funding over about ten years to finance a 240 unit building of Affordable housing. We need to make it easier to finance and build all types of homes

From the advantages on paper I think it's likely that a lot of mid-rise residential construction will use hybrid mass timber by five years from now. I'd love to hear whether others agree.

There is patent competition for the metal stud wall boundary element connections, but the structure is otherwise a nonproprietary outcome of the 2019 code update allowing Type IV-B, mass timber.

MassFrame Solutions noted in their pitch that there are some caveats:

- Currently, their engineering works to 7 stories of hybrid mass timber on metal studs alone - they build a podium or add a steel braced frame to reach 11+ stories

- Best suited to residential projects, for smaller clear spans

And to round out the list of advantages, hybrid mass timber structures are a good, panelized balance of prefabrication compared with volumetric modular:

- Greater design flexibility
- Less vulnerable to water damage
- Later start in the factory, meaning more time to finish design and financing

Hybrid mass timber's advantages over full mass timber are:

- No expensive mass timber columns and connections
- Floor space not taken up by columns
- Interior walls serve as structure, not just as filler

Hybrid mass timber also has advantages over post-tensioned concrete residential highrises:

- Far lower embodied carbon
- Faster erection time
- Lower cost

Up to 12 stories can be paired with a concrete podium to reach up to 180 feet (under Type IV-B).

Continued advantages over stick framing:

- Shallow floor plate fits 8 stories within the 75ft high rise limit, vs 7 with wood
- A union-built product that competes on cost for typically non-union low-rise residential
- Exterior skin can be panelized/prefabricated
- More dimensionally stable

Compared with transitional US wood framing, hybrid mass timber offers several advantages:

- Greater height - 7 to 11 stories of mass timber, with a one-story or no concrete podium
- 123,000sf building area, all of Type IV-B, without 3 hr horizontal exits
- Noncombustible - saves on insurance

Two photos of structural systems, side-by-side. On the left, "metal frame walls." Shiny metal studs frame a room, with bright yellow Densglass exterior wall board on the face of one wall. On the right, "mass timber floors." A crane lifts a large piece of wood floor plate, which appears to be about 40 feet long, 15 feet wide, and six inches deep. The building in this photo is fully mass timber, including columns and beams, unlike the hybrid system. Source: https://www.massframesolutions.com/overview

The hybrid mass timber structure uses metal stud walls (typical in commercial and high-rise residential construction) with mass timber (plywood or CLT) floor plates.

The video above is from neutral.us, which has completed multiple mass timber projects in Wisconsin. I have also received a pitch for this construction method from massframesolutions.com, which is starting and pursuing multiple projects in California.

I don't think we've discussed "hybrid mass timber" construction - metal-framed walls with mass timber decks. This new technique could replace wood-framed and concrete alike for residential projects between 4 and 11+ stories, with big climate and cost advantages.

Here's a video of the impossible. The UP Express has high platforms and level boarding for passengers. That is supposed make it impossible for mainline North American freight trains to pass. And yet, as this shows, CN freight trains roll past the high platform at Weston multiple times per week.

This weekend we took a big step in the right direction for getting posters up in communities across the Bay Area to help support the effort to save & improve transit. Help get posters up in more communities across the region. Download the poster file here www.savebayareatransit.com/home

They'll presumably extract the TBM after Phase 1, so it's a shame that all the street disruption for the ESFV line isn't being paired with cut-and-cover tunneling for the Sepulveda second phase. Cut and cover is mostly the same work - utilities, CSM pile walls, and street reconstruction.

The pro-transit, pro-housing lane in the race is up for grabs

This was a good time! We put up posters at bus & BART stops getting the word out and seeking volunteers for the Bay Area's regional transit measure. Signature gathering starts January 23rd!

Sign up for volunteering opportunities:

tinyurl.com/savebayareatransit

i will never get over this rebecca tiffany quote: the goal of yimbyism is a world where "every trans eighteen-year-old who is stuck living with unsupportive family [is] able to afford an apartment in a vibrant urban space with transit on a minimum wage job."

www.liberalcurrents.com/feminism-wit...

Exciting that CAYIMBY is getting involved in transit project delivery state capacity and reform!

Save Bay Area Transit! · Events Calendar View and subscribe to events from Save Bay Area Transit! on Luma. Organizing to pass a Bay Area transit funding measure in 2026. Your help is crucial in the fight to save transit! Organized by Seaml...

Want to help out in the lead up to the big launch? Join us tomorrow in Oakland and San Jose to put up posters about the regional measure and help get the word out to transit riders luma.com/savetransit?...

Signature Gathering Kickoff for Connect Bay Area Transit · Luma To avoid devastating Bay Area transit service cuts, we need to gather 200,000 signatures to get Connect Bay Area, the regional transit funding measure enabled…

🚨 Save the date to save Bay Area transit: January 23rd!

This is our all hands on deck moment: we’re kicking off signature gathering for the regional measure with a day of action across all five counties on the 23rd.

luma.com/le1g7slf?tk=...

Snapshot looking down a BART train platform between two tracks. Passengers streaming off of a train are backlit by a low setting sun, and their long shadows break the yellow sunlight into a fan of narrow vertical streaks. The San Francisco skyline can be seen in the distance, directly off the end of the platform. Cars pass on the highway flanking the station tracks.

Rockridge BART Winter Sunset View Corridor Preservation Alliance

This must mean BART was able to roll out its 2-year software fix for the new train car wheel flat issue earlier than planned.

Excerpt from the official BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) website: "BART no longer runs trains at reduced speed during the rain, except for a few select locations near the end of the lines. BART crews updated the train car braking profile software and made slight changes to train speeds at specific locations with a longitudinal slope and where data showed cars were experiencing high rates of wheel flats. These two changes reduced wheel flats and allowed BART to run trains at normal speeds during the rain. Wheel flat spots occur when wheels slide on rails, instead of spinning." Source: https://www.bart.gov/schedules/weather

/r/bayarea noticed that @bart.gov is no longer "running trains at slower speeds due to wet weather!" I had been taking for granted that trains have been running well in the rain this season.

You see this again and again. JPA management, limited staff capacity, patchwork grant programs -> budget overruns, longer timelines descoping, less service for riders in rapidly-growing areas. This time for Valley Rail in the Central Valley. Will 2026 be the year we take action?

“UPRR indicated that there could be no further concessions and would not agree to further reducing capital improvement requirements.”

In February, we helped organize a protest in defense of California High-Speed Rail that shouted down Trump DOT head Sean Duffy as he trashed HSR in the heart of Los Angeles. 3/https://bsky.app/profile/calelectricrail.org/post/3limr5r27622m

That's not all!

Tram gate video