The California Transportation Commission (CTC) has allocated more than $200 million for 27 fix-it-first highway projects and $42 million for 43 transit, bike and pedestrian projects that are partially funded by Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.

The State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP) “fix-it-first” program funds safety improvements, emergency repairs, highway preservation and operational highway upgrades. A significant portion of the funding for this program comes from SB 1. The 27 SHOPP projects that can now go ahead thanks to this latest round of SB 1 funding will: replace or improve 305 lane miles and 27 bridges; provide 204 congestion-reducing devices; and repair 32 culverts to prevent flooding on highways.

“Californians expect their transportation system to be well maintained, efficient, and multimodal. This funding will keep us safely moving motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians and transit users across the state,” said Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin.

Significant Southern California projects allocated SB 1 funds include:

San Diego County – $35.6 million Pavement Rehabilitation Project will improve 49.8 miles of pavement, restore drainage systems, upgrade curb ramps to meet ADA standards, upgrade guardrails and enhance crosswalk visibility along SR-67.

Orange County – $19.3 million Pavement Preservation Project will improve 18.8 lane miles of SR-1 from Jamboree Road to the Santa Ana River Bridge in the city of Newport Beach.

San Diego County – $7.8 million Traffic Management System Project will improve flow of traffic by replacing Changeable Message Sign panels with Advanced Variable Message Sign panels on major freeways that traverse the county, including I-5, I-805, I-8, SR-52, SR-54, and SR-94.

The CTC also approved an allocation of more than $42 million for 35 locally administered Active Transportation Program (ATP) projects, 16 of which received $8.3 million in funding from SB 1. These projects range from improving sidewalks and bicycle lanes to creating safer routes to school for children who bike or walk to school. Additionally, more than $21 million of SB 1 funding was allocated to the Local Partnership Program (LPP) to help match road and transit investments that local communities have made in their region through voter-approved transportation tax measures.

Caltrans has completed 176 SB 1 projects to date, with 455 projects in the works statewide. SB 1 invests approximately $5 billion per year to fix roads, freeways and bridges in communities across California and will allow Caltrans to fix more than 17,000 lane miles of pavement, 500 bridges and 55,000 culverts on the state highway system by 2027.

Source: Caltrans