SAN FRANCISCO — Think you know how to solve the Bay Area’s nightmarish traffic? Have you been fantasizing about where a future BART system could go? Do you have a tech-savvy solution for reducing solo-driving or integrating autonomous cars into Bay Area freeways?

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission wants to hear from you.

Last month, the regional transportation planning agency put out a call for proposals. It’s looking for big, bold ideas that would completely transform the way residents and visitors move around the Bay Area.

Don’t worry about cost, says MTC spokesman Randy Rentschler. The minimum price tag for capacity-adding transit or road projects is $1 billion, and there is no maximum.

“If we can get enough interest in a bold vision,” Rentschler said, “we can chase the money for it later.”

The problem, he said, is that government agencies are constrained — by what is politically feasible, by laws that require them to use existing funding streams when sketching out their visions for the future, by being focused on what is achievable in the short-term. Over the past several decades — ever since the BART system was envisioned and built — those constraints have led to small, incremental changes, he said.

Sure, there have been BART extensions over the years. And yes, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s four-station extension of BART into San Jose will be a major improvement. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — and subsequent closure of the Bay Bridge — gave rise to a renewed ferry network, though it still carries only a small sliver of commuters. The Bay Area’s fledgling toll lane network is being built out, but only bit-by-bit.

“All the big projects that have occurred in the last 20 to 40 years are basically incrementalism,” Rentschler said. “We make all these claims about what might happen in four years or in 20 years hence and suddenly, we’re not talking about what is happening with autonomous vehicles. Like, really big things.”

This competition — open to anyone with a good idea and complete with nominal cash prizes of $100 for finalists and $500 for the winner — is meant to break open that mold of thinking and focus not on improving what is already here, but imagining what could be.

So, what would some of those transformative projects look like?

Imagine lanes of highway driven only by autonomous cars, or a regional bus network with a dedicated right-of-way for its entire length. What if cars ceded lane space to a truly connected bicycle network, where electric bikes could speed safely out of traffic’s way, replacing car trips? What if there was more than one way to cross the Bay on a train? Or if the region’s transit network extended to every Bay Area county?

The idea is to add capacity, respond to sea-level rise or otherwise make improvements to streamline transit and highway operations, said Dave Vautin, a principal planner with the MTC.

“The goal is to receive innovative, high-quality projects that would effectively address regional challenges,” he said in a statement. “So we’ll be looking for well-considered proposals that would have a truly transformative impact on the future of Bay Area communities and the way we move around the region.”

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Commuter ferry service approved from East Bay to San Francisco, Redwood City Each idea will be read by the MTC’s transportation planners and evaluated on their merits for affordability, connectivity, accessibility to diverse populations, environmental and human health, and enhancing the economic well-being of the Bay Area. A judging panel this fall will select up to 10 projects to become part of the analysis for the MTC’s long-range planning efforts, as well as Plan Bay Area 2050, a road-map for the region’s transportation plans. And who knows, if it’s compelling enough, it may even be included in a future mega-funding measure.

Applicants submitting transformative project ideas can fill out an online form, or visit the MTC’s website at: https://MTC.CA.Gov/Our-Work/Plans-Projects/Horizon/Request-Transformative-Projects for more information. Submissions are due Sept. 6.