Adopted in 2011, San Jose’s ambitious Envision 2040 plan included goals of bringing more than 10,000 new homes and nearly 50,000 jobs to downtown San Jose. Every year, SPUR reports on the progress we’re making as a city to realize these goals. This year, we’re seeing three positive trends, as well as major decisions on the horizon.

Construction costs are a growing barrier to building new housing in California. Today, experts don’t agree on the exact reasons for California’s soaring costs, which often leads to policy fights based on ideology, not facts. A new research series from the Terner Center for Housing Innovation aims to add data to the debate. At a recent SPUR forum, panelists discussed the research to date.

Uber’s recent announcement that it is adding new travel modes to its platform caught the public transportation sector flat footed. It’s time for Bay Area transportation leaders to start setting a vision for mobility-as-a-service, an approach that makes many transportation choices available through a single platform and payment system. For many reasons, we need government — not the private sector — to take the lead.

The adoption of autonomous vehicles on a grand scale is not inevitable, and their predicted benefits have not yet been proven. As we plan for the transportation system of the future, we should set goals that we will accomplish with AVs or without them. The following are effective strategies to manage traffic and make it easier to get around — even if AVs never arrive.