Transportation California today cheered the announcement by the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the President pro Tem of the Senate of a consensus transportation funding package. The package will go into SB 1 by Senator Jim Beall and be considered by the Legislature. The package, known as “The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017,” provides approximately $52 billion over 10 years to help address the crisis of California’s badly deteriorating streets, roads, highways, and bridges, as well as funding to help expand public transportation and improve mobility in key congested travel corridors around the state. Also included are transportation reform measures such as increased oversight and accountability for Caltrans.
“We have all seen and felt the dramatic decline in our transportation system in our daily travels. That decline has only been made worse by our severe winter storms. Californians are spending an average of $762 a year on fixing their cars and trucks due to the condition of our streets and roads,” said Steve Clark, Chair of Transportation California. “The time is long overdue to fix our roads and to invest once again in getting Californians where they need to go.”
As a member of the Fix Our Roads Coalition, Transportation California has been at the forefront of working with the Administration and the Legislature for more than the last two years to address the growing challenge of meeting the transportation needs of Californians. As our state continues to grow and the stress on our transportation system has grown increasingly acute, vital maintenance and repair of the system, as well as capacity improvements have fallen far behind what is needed. The backlog of maintenance and repair alone for our state and local streets and highways is estimated to be $130 billion.
“After all the intense work of the last two years, we are extremely encouraged that the Governor and the legislative leaders have come together on this vital transportation funding package,” Roger Dickinson, Executive Director of Transportation California said. “Standing still only makes things worse and will cost us more in the future. We greatly appreciate the hard work to develop this package and urge the Legislature to take swift and favorable action to approve it.”
The package is estimated to cost Californians an average of $10 more a month, and includes a number of accountability measures to ensure that the money is efficiently and effectively spent. Also included in the package will be a proposed constitutional amendment to restrict the money to only be spent on transportation projects.
Transportation California is a non-profit coalition of contractors, allied labor, material providers, and business affiliates which have joined together to support a strong, balanced, and effective transportation system for California.
Source: transportationca.com
