Several commuting friends of ours have noted that traffic getting into the city over the Bay Bridge is quite light most mornings lately around 8 a.m., and now the Chron informs us that it's official: For the first time in 28 years the Bay Area does not rank among the Top 5 worst cities for traffic in the 2010 Urban Mobility Report (published annually by the Texas Transportation Institute.

Innocently, the Chron asks, "Is this a brief respite tied to the slumping economy -- or is it the payoff from the Bay Area's continued investment in such transportation improvements as carpool lanes, ramp metering and highway widenings or extensions?" The latter part makes us LOL, but seriously folks, shouldn't we be concerned that traffic coming into town is actually less than it was even during the dot-com bust?

The CC Times cites the congestion toll increase, which they say accounts for a 15% drop in the time it takes to cross the bridge in the last six months. Also, BART says they've seen an 8% spike in ridership since the tolls went up in July and carpooling stopped being free.