Caltrans has announced it is fast tracking more than $285 million in construction work as part of its ‘Fix it First’ initiative. Thirteen projects are underway and another 50 will start next year. The agency is able to jump-start these road repairs due to the passage of the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB 1).

Work to repair and resurface hundreds of miles of highways—including those in Los Angeles, Long Beach, the South Bay, and the San Gabriel Valley—will begin as soon as this summer, months before revenue from the transportation bill begins to flow to the state.

The accelerated construction work is taking place in every Caltrans district in California, and in urban, suburban and rural areas. Southern California region projects include:

  • On Pacific Coast Highway, a $7.2 million pavement preservation project will resurface 22 miles of roadway between Long Beach and Hermosa Beach
  • On the Antelope Valley Freeway, $3.5 million will be spent resurfacing three miles of roadway between Newhall Avenue and Friendly Valley Parkway
  • In Ventura County, a $2.8 million project will resurface sections of Highway 101 and State Route 23, which run through Thousand Oaks and Moorpark
  • In the San Gabriel Valley, $2.6 million will be spent on resurfacing over three miles of the 605 Freeway between El Monte and West Covina
  • In Long Beach, $2.3 million will go toward resurfacing two miles of the 710 Freeway.

In the past 23 years, California’s population has grown by about 8 million people, adding millions more vehicles and trucks to the state highway system, officials said. Californians also drive over 350 billion miles a year – more than any other state.

SB 1 marks the first significant investment in the state’s transportation infrastructure since the mid 1990s. The law is expected to generate $54 billion over the next decade by raising the state’s gas tax and imposing new vehicle fees. “With the law in place we can begin to put thousands of people to work rebuilding California and its local communities,” said CalSTA Secretary Brian Kelly.

A constitutional amendment requires money raised through SB 1 to be spent solely on transportation. SB 1 funds will enable Caltrans to fix more than 17,000 lane miles of pavement, 500 bridges, and 55,000 culverts by 2027.

For more information about the funding package, including projects in your service area, visit www.rebuildingca.ca.gov.

Source: Press Telegram