State revises transportation funding list

By gedward on March 4, 2007 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amid last-minute politicking and following loud complaints over its initial projects list, the California Transportation Commission last week released a revised list of statewide transportation projects to receive funding from last November's voter-approved transportation bond. The revised list, which outlines the initial $4.5 billion of funds from the $19.9 billion Prop. 1B transportation bond, redirects more of the funding toward the state's urbanized areas.

Inland SoCal projects
The Press-Enterprise

The biggest winner: Los Angeles County. After initially receiving only $328 million, the county scored the biggest chunk of funds ($1.2 billion) as well as the single largest project outlay ($730 million for HOV lanes on I-405).

The biggest loser: Mendocino County, which lost $177 million for the Willits Bypass. Although a worthy project in many respects, this was by far the most obvious inequity on the first project list.

In addition to allocating the entire $4.5 billion now -- as opposed to $2.7 billion as first proposed -- the revised list favors population centers. In particular, Los Angeles (+$872 million), Alameda (+$273 million), Riverside (+$157 million) and San Diego (+$128 million) counties each benefited from the revised list and full release of funds.

After receiving a paltry $38 million (1.4% of the initial total) for a single project on the first list, Riverside County -- with a bit of assistance from Gov. Schwarzenegger -- received an additional $157 million for a second project (HOV lanes on Highway 91). The new total of $195 million (4.3%) better reflected the county's population (5%). Riverside County also benefited with additional funding ($22 million) given to Orange County for adding lanes on Highway 91 in the Santa Ana Canyon. However, in our opinion, the real need in this area of the 91 is on the Riverside County side, especially in Corona.

Although San Bernardino County saw one project unexpectedly cut ($85.7 million for bridge widening on I-10), in its place the county received $108 million for HOV lanes on the I-215 in San Bernardino (which also got a nudge from Gov. Schwarzenegger). This brought the county's total to $175.8 million (up from $153.4). Though not pleased with losing the I-10 project, county officials say they'll work to restore the funding in a later round of Prop. 1B outlays.

SoCal County / $ Received

Los Angeles / $1.2b
San Diego / $432m
Orange / $386m
Riverside / $195m
San Bernardino / $175m
Santa Barbara/Ventura / $131m
Imperial / $0

Source: CTC - CMIA (revised)

In our opinion, the revised list better reflects the needs of the state's population centers and corrects the huge oversight of Riverside County receiving a mere $38 million as first proposed. For the state's 5th most-populous county (2 million), the initial amount was simply unacceptable, particularly in light of Mendocino County -- population 90,000 -- receiving $177 million for the Willits Bypass project (third highest single outlay on the initial list).

In general, we feel Inland Southern California fared well -- as it should based upon both population and need -- relative to its more dominant neighbors (and political heavyweights). Hopefully, this bodes well for the two counties with regards to later Prop. 1B rounds.

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