Sacramento Bee
July 7, 2000

By STEVEN A. CAPPS, Bee Capitol Bureau

Gov. Gray Davis signed a $6.8 billion transportation improvement package Thursday, relying on the state's budget surplus and sales taxes charged on gasoline for a six-year program he says will ease traffic congestion in the state.

Davis' efforts are focused on the most traffic-clogged areas of the state, including the San Francisco Bay Area, ranked as the third-most-congested metropolitan area in the United States, and the Los Angeles region, home to some of the busiest freeways in the world.

While Davis originally proposed that the projects be paid for with voter-approved bond funds, he dropped the idea when the state amassed a $12 billion budget surplus.

Under the new arrangement, about $1.6 billion will be earmarked for the projects in the first year, along with $400 million for local roads. About $1.5 billion of the money will come from the state's general fund and about $500 million from sales taxes charged on gasoline.

In subsequent years, the state will dedicate all gasoline sales tax revenues -- about $1 billion a year -- to pay for the congestion relief projects.

In signing the bills -- AB 2808 and SB 402 -- Davis made a number of deletions, including elimination of $1.9 million to add a ninth train on the the intercity rail line between the Bay Area and Sacramento along the Capitol Corridor.

In vetoing the project, Davis said the new service could not be implemented this year. He did include, however, expanded service on the line between Oakland and San Jose, and at the Jack London Square and Emeryville stations.

The Sacramento area has a handful of projects that did make the list, including $50 million in incentives for owners of heavy machinery to replace diesel engines with less-polluting ones.

It also includes money to extend Sacramento's light-rail line five miles from Meadowview Road to Calvine road in the Elk Grove area. The extension is expected to serve 15,000 riders per day.

While the Legislature went along for the most part with the governor's transportation package, Davis came under criticism over some aspects. Republicans said too much of the $6.8 billion was earmarked for mass transit projects over the next five years and not enough for roads.

And legislators of both parties questioned the idea of having the governor choose individual projects on the list, rather than routing them through the California Transportation Commission, which is supposed to develop the state's transportation project schedule.

But Davis said the seriousness of California's traffic problems dictated the new approach. "Our economy has produced unprecedented prosperity," Davis said Thursday. "But people can't work if they can't get to work."

Davis signed the legislation in San Francisco's new waterfront Pacific Bell Park, after arriving there with Mayor Willie Brown via Muni train.

The largest project on the list is the extension of BART, or Bay Area Rapid Transit, to San Jose, with an estimated eventual cost of $4 billion. Also included is extension of San Francisco's Muni light-rail line underground all the way to Chinatown, at an eventual cost of $538 million.

Sacramento area projects on the list are:

Creation of express service by double-tracking the light-rail line along the Interstate 80 corridor between Watt Avenue and El Camino Avenue.

Acquiring 50 replacement low-emission buses for service in Sacramento and Yolo counties.

Extension of the Folsom light-rail line six miles from Iron Point Road, and adding three light-rail stations in the area.

Widening and other improvements of the Watt Avenue interchange on Highway 50, the Sunrise Boulevard interchange with Highway 50 and the Sheldon Road interchange with Highway 99.

A feasibility study for grade separation projects for the Union Pacific Railroad crossings at Elk Grove Boulevard and at Bond Road in Elk Grove.


<--- Back to Articles Home Page