Fix Our Roads, January 18, 2017

“Pave roads now or pay more later”

Sacramento – Noting that state highways and local streets and roads have a maintenance backlog of $130 billion and California motorists are spending more than $700 annually on car repairs due to potholed roads, hundreds of Fix Our Roads coalition members will gather at 1:15 p.m., Wednesday January 18, at the Sacramento Convention Center West Lobby to urge Governor Brown and the California Legislature to pass a long-term transportation funding package soon, and not wait for the budget process in May or June.

Fix Our Roads supports a transportation funding package that would raise at least $6 billion annually. That’s what’s needed to begin to make a dent in the enormous backlog. At the same time, Fix Our Roads is also recommending accountability provisions to give taxpayers confidence the new revenues will be spent on transportation projects only.

Fixing small problems before they become worse and more expensive makes fiscal sense. California can either pave roads now or pay more later. In fact, it costs eight times more to fix a road than to maintain it.

In November 2016, after the Special Session on Transportation failed to produce a funding package, Governor Brown, Pro Tem de León and Speaker Rendon promised to ‘tackle this issue early in the new year’. The Fix Our Roads Coalition intends to hold them to that promise.

Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Time: 1:15 p.m.

Location: Sacramento Convention Center West Lobby (the lobby across from Esquire restaurant)

Who:

  • Michael Quigley, Executive Director, California Alliance for Jobs
  • Joanne Mounce, Lodi City Councilmember and League of California Cities President
  • Richard Forster, Amador County Supervisor, District 2 and immediate past President California State Association of Counties
  • Phil Serna, Sacramento County Supervisor District 1
  • Eric Guerra, Sacramento City Councilmember District 6
  • Barry Broome, President and CEO Greater Sacramento Economic Council
  • Mark Kyle, Operating Engineers Local 3

Background:

Everyone agrees the state’s transportation network is falling apart. There is a $130 billion shortfall of funds needed to repair our state’s network of roads ($59 billion for state highways and $73 billion for local streets and roads).

The longer we wait to address our maintenance needs, the worse they become and the more expensive they are to fix.

  • An August 2016 report from the National Transportation Research Group or TRIP found:
    • CA drivers are paying $53.6 billion annually in additional car repairs, congestion delays and traffic crashes due to poorly maintained roads. That’s an average cost of $2,826 per driver.
    • Car repairs alone cost drives in California an average of more than $700 annually due to pothole-filled roads.
    • Statewide, 68 percent of California’s major roads are in poor condition.
    • It costs eight times more to fix a road than to maintain it.
    • A total of 25 percent of California bridges show significant deterioration and need to be repaired or replaced.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that for every $1 spent on road, highway and bridge improvements there is an average benefit of $5.20 in the form of reduced vehicle maintenance costs, reduced delays, reduced fuel consumption, improved safety, and reduced maintenance costs.

Source: Fix Our Roads