The California Transportation Commission recently allocated roughly $540 million in transportation investments to improve travel times, shore up aging bridges and freight infrastructure, and add new layers of safety around schools and community centers.
[Above photo by Caltrans]
Guided by the state’s “Build More, Faster – For All” initiative, that funding also supports investment into alternative-fuel transit options.
The California Department of Transportation – known as Caltrans – noted that funding total includes $152 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or IIJA and $253 million from Senate Bill 1 or SB 1, officially called the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
The remaining $135 million comes from the State Highway Account, the state’s general fund, as well as other state and federal transportation programs, Caltrans noted.
“The support made possible by these forward-thinking investments will help Caltrans increase sustainability, maintain safer and more connected bridges and roadways and bolsters our efforts to counter the effects of extreme weather on critical transportation assets,” noted Dina El-Tawansy, director of Caltrans, in a statement.
The single largest proposal funded by this allocation is a $117.8 million project to replace the fender system on the West Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Caltrans noted that bridge fenders are structures installed around bridge piers or towers that provide an extra level of advanced security in the event of an accidental ship collision by absorbing the impact before hitting the bridge.
That funding tranche also includes $53 million to complete a communication-based train control system for San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit or BART system; nearly $70 million to address weather-related highway repairs statewide; and $6.7 million to create a pedestrian priority area with new sidewalks in downtown Long Beach.
