After years of none, it looks like they are finally going to begin building them.
Very good news.
Area rushes to get new road funding
By Tony Bizjak - Bee Staff Writer Published 12:00 am PST Friday, November 10, 2006
Elated over what they call a historic opportunity, Sacramento planners are rushing this week to line up as many as two dozen road projects to compete for a chunk of the state's new transportation bond.
After years of bone-dry budgets, California voters reopened the spigot Tuesday with approval of Proposition 1B, a massive $19.9 billion transportation infrastructure-rebuilding measure championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature.
The first portion of that money -- $4.5 billion -- will be made available next year for projects to reduce congestion on major roads.
But it will go only to local governments nimble enough to get their requests in by Jan. 15, and able to show they can put those projects in the ground no later than 2012.
"This is traveling at lightning speed," said Mike McKeever of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the region's transportation planning agency. "The challenge is: Can we move quickly and smartly?"
Anticipating passage of the measure, SACOG and other Sacramento-area planners already are touting wish lists.
State Department of Transportation officials say they want to expand bus and carpool lanes on every major freeway in Sacramento, including along the notorious Interstate 80 bottleneck in South Placer County, as well as into the fast-growing foothills of El Dorado County.
Local Caltrans district head Jody Jones said those projects have been on her agency's drawing boards for years but have only inched forward for want of money.
Jones said no decision has been made yet on which freeways to nominate for bond money but said she feels confident any of them would compete well, and that the need is clear.
