SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A baker's dozen
of Bay Area highway, transit and goods-movement projects today
earned more than $660 million in new
funding as the California Transportation Commission (CTC) finalized
its first awards through a trio of competitive statewide programs
established by the Senate Bill 1 transportation investment package
signed into law by Gov. Brown last year. Projects in the
nine-county Bay Area, which accounts for about 20 percent of the
state population, earned more than 25 percent of the total
$2.642 billion awarded today by the
CTC through the Solutions for Congested Corridors, Trade Corridor
Enhancement and Local Partnership programs. This is on top of the
$1.4 billion awarded last month to 10
Bay Area transit projects for distribution over the next decade by
the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) through its
Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, which includes both SB
1 and state cap-and-trade funds.
"SB 1 is already playing a critical role in making California companies more competitive, and the
CTC and CalSTA deserve a lot of credit for their hard work in
putting these dollars to work quickly," commented Metropolitan
Transportation Commission Chair and Rohnert Park City Councilmember
Jake Mackenzie. "Both agencies recognize the need to expand the Bay
Area transportation network to catch up with recent growth and the
need to modernize our freeways, transit systems and freight
corridors to maintain the Bay Area's position as an engine for
economic growth throughout the state."
The largest of the CTC's SB 1 awards for the Bay Area is a
$233 million commitment to Caltrans
and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) through
the Solutions for Congested Corridors program to establish express
lanes along both directions of U.S. 101 between State Route 237 in
Mountain View through San Mateo County to Interstate 380 near
San Francisco International
Airport. The CTC also awarded Caltrans $85
million through the Solutions for Congested Corridors
program to complete the final Sonoma
County portion of the multi-phase widening of U.S. 101
through the Marin-Sonoma Narrows.
Awards for Bay Area projects approved for funding through the
Trade Corridor Enhancement Program include $175 million for the Alameda County
Transportation Commission (ACTC) to build a grade-separation that
will carry 7th Street over railroad tracks serving the Port of
Oakland; $12 million for ACTC and the Port of Oakland to implement their GoPort package of
intelligent transportation system elements; $53 million for Caltrans and the Solano
Transportation Authority to tackle a second phase of the
reconfiguration of the Cordelia Junction between I-80 and State
Route 12; $4 million for VTA to
develop plans for a new U.S. 101/State Route 25 interchange south
of Gilroy; and $4 million for the City
of Emeryville to improve at-grade rail crossings in the East
Bay city.
Projects approved by the CTC for SB 1 funding through the
competitive Local Partnership Program include $34 million for the Contra Costa Transportation
Authority to upgrade the I-680/State Route 4 interchange;
$20 million for San Mateo County agencies to advance the U.S.
101 Express Lanes project; $17
million for VTA to improve the U.S. 101 and Highway 237
interchanges with Mathilda Avenue; $15
million for AC Transit to buy hybrid buses; $7 million for improvements to Jefferson Street
in San Francisco; and $3 million to upgrade Rumrill Blvd. in
San Pablo.
Each of the 10 Bay Area transit projects selected last month by
CalSTA to receive SB 1 funds through the Transit and Intercity Rail
Capital Program is slated to receive money in the 2018-19 to
2022-23 fiscal years. These include Phase 2 of the BART-to-Silicon
Valley extension ($238 million);
BART's Transbay Core Capacity project ($144
million); new railcars for Caltrain's soon-to-be electrified
service ($123 million); Capitol
Corridor enhancements ($80 million);
Muni's Transit Capacity Expansion Program ($27 million); SMART's Larkspur-to-Windsor
Corridor Project ($21 million); the
Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority's Dublin/Pleasanton capacity improvement program
($21 million); SamTrans' U.S. 101
Express Bus pilot ($15 million); AC
Transit's Zero-Emission Bus purchase program ($14 million); and regional transit improvements
in Solano County ($11 million). Funding agreements for fiscal years
2023-24 through 2027-28 include an extra $492 million for Phase 2 of the BART-to-Silicon
Valley extension; another $174
million for BART's Transbay Core Capacity projects; and
$41 million for further expansion of
the Caltrain railcar fleet.
SB 1, formally known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act
of 2017, is expected to generate $52.4
billion for transportation investments over the next decade.
This includes:
- $24.4 billion by increasing the
state excise tax on gasoline by 12
cents per gallon;
- $16.3 billion from an annual
vehicle licensing fee based on vehicle value;
- $7.3 billion by increasing the
state excise tax on diesel fuel by 20
cents per gallon;
- $3.5 billion by increasing the
sales tax on diesel fuel to 5.75 percent;
- $706 million through repayments
from the state General Fund; and
- $200 million from an annual
$100 Zero Emission Vehicle fee that
will start in 2020
MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating
agency for the nine-county San Francisco
Bay Area.
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SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission