Latest news with #CaliforniaTransportationCommission
Politico
26-06-2025
- Business
- Politico
Labor and enviros take it to the parking lot
With help from Camille von Kaenel THIS WAY OR THE HIGHWAY: The fight over California's highway expansion efforts is entering the affordability arena. Environmental groups and labor unions plan to fill the Sacramento Convention Center tomorrow in a face-off over roughly $600 million in funding for six highway projects ranging from the Bay Area to Los Angeles County. The California Transportation Commission is expected to approve the slate of projects, which have been in the pipeline for years and already have sign-off from Caltrans. But environmental groups say they plan to use the moment to unveil a change in strategy: talk less about pollution, and more about keeping dollars in people's pockets. 'Driving is the most expensive way to get around,' said Jeanie Ward-Waller, director of ClimatePlan and a former Caltrans official who sued the agency after saying she was demoted for objecting to highway expansion plans. 'Owning a car, maintaining a car, putting gas in your car. There's so much focus right now on gas prices, and we're not doing anything to give people affordable options.' It's the next chapter of a fight at the typically sleepy California Transportation Commission that started playing out last year over $200 million to widen I-15 in the Inland Empire, which ended with former commissioner Joe Lyou, president and CEO at Coalition for Clean Air, blasting his colleagues from the dais. Greens are hoping to keep the agency in the spotlight by arguing that road-widening is part of the affordability agenda that's taken Sacramento by storm. They're tying it to the same angst around high gas prices, housing costs and food prices that's shifted the political discourse around climate from an emphasis on reducing emissions to helping Californians afford living in the state. (Look no further than the bill introduced Tuesday that takes aim at the state's emissions market for transportation fuels.) The construction labor unions that build and maintain California's expansive highway system aren't buying it. Michael Quigley, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs, which represents carpenters, laborers, contractors and other construction unions, called enviros' opposition to highway projects a political ideology that's not rooted in concerns about costs. 'Historically, infrastructure has not been such a politicized issue,' Quigley said. 'I think it goes back to the philosophical disconnect between the people who have postgraduate degrees in environmentalism seeking to impose policies and programs that make it harder to live for working Californians.' While environmental groups are leaning hard into the affordability rhetoric, they're less worried about the threat of federal funding linked to pollution standards being held up. That's because if President Donald Trump has his way, California officials could be forced to think about their transportation infrastructure strategy sooner rather than later. EPA could soon attempt to sanction California for failing to meet federal air quality standards under the Clean Air Act — something that's all but assured after Republicans revoked California's authority to enforce its vehicle emissions rules. That would put billions of federal highway dollars at risk, and CARB Chair Liane Randolph told lawmakers last month that the loss of the waivers would mean they'd have to think hard about spending more on public transit and things like electric vehicle incentives to reduce pollution. From Ward-Waller's perspective, that's a potential win. 'For the funds that are being used to expand highways, good riddance,' she said. — AN Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here! FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: Could $9 million in fuel breaks have slowed the Eaton Fire enough for firefighters to evacuate Altadena residents and prevent damage to homes? It's hard to know for sure, but that's the case made by new research from analytics firm Vibrant Planet, shared exclusively with California Climate. The findings use Vibrant Planet's wildfire behavior model to highlight how preventative landscape-scale treatments can avoid losses in the case of a fire. For example, the model determined that $15.3 million spent around Boulder, Colorado, in prescribed fire and both commercial and non-commercial vegetation trimming could reduce structure losses by 62.9 percent in case of a fire sparking in the forest, avoiding $123 million in losses. The data is part of a pitch for more investment in wildfire prevention and fewer limits on the treatments. On Thursday, Vibrant Planet CEO Allison Wolff is scheduled to testify to Congress on wildfire technology and her support of the Fix our Forests Act, a bipartisan bill that passed the House and is pending in the Senate. — CvK TURN ON THE POWER: Over a dozen blue states are about to have their federal electric vehicle charging taps turned back on. A Washington federal judge late Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from freezing funding approved under President Joe Biden through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, POLITICO's James Bikales reports. That funding won't restart immediately, as Judge Tana Lin issued a seven-day stay pending an appeal by the government. Trump's Department of Transportation suspended all new spending through the $5 billion program in February, arguing that it was reviewing the funding criteria. That pushed some states, like Michigan and Vermont, to pause their NEVI programs, though California did not cancel its first round of nearly $33 million in awards. California charger operators say that while the $352 million in NEVI funds the state is slated to receive is dwarfed by in-state and private resources, the program incentivizes building in less profitable rural areas. — AN DRAMA IN THE FAST LANE: Senate Republicans' budget wonk is raising a red flag over a plan to use gas tax dollars to create temporary priority lanes for athletes and officials during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Sen. Roger Niello, vice chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, said in an interview that he's not opposed to spending in support of the Olympics, but pushed back on the budget item being included late in the cycle without debate in prior committees. Democrats' budget would tap $17 million from the State Highway Account, which is funded by gas taxes, to help Caltrans design a transportation network for the Olympics. (The agency could request up to $20 million more as needed.) That would include temporarily converting carpool and toll lanes for use only by approved vehicles, and new digital signage alerting residents to the changes. Niello contended that gas taxes are for new construction and repairs, and suggested that the state could instead offer Los Angeles a loan to be repaid if the games prove profitable. 'I can certainly see the need for lane repurposing to help traffic move more smoothly,' Niello said. 'But the problem is it will be exactly the same transportation infrastructure once they're done.' — AN IT'S NOT ALL BAD: The death of California's electric vehicle waiver and potential loss of federal tax credits have EV makers in a bind, but Cox Automotive analysts say it's not all doom and gloom for the market. Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive, said during the company's mid-year review of the auto industry Wednesday that rapid expansion of EV options on the market offers 'a bright spot that signals long-term strength.' Streaty cautioned, however, that while more market maturity is a 'win for consumers', it does pose challenges for companies that now have to deal with more supply chain constraints in trying to build out so many different models. But she said the tradeoff is that more car buyers can now find an EV model that fits their 'lifestyle, budget and brand preference.' Streaty's assessment of the EV market comes amid concerns about the overall health of the auto industry. That has largely been driven by Trump's 25 percent tariff on imported cars and parts, which automakers warn will drive down supply and raise prices. — AN — A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that California's insurer of last resort is violating state law by mishandling smoke damage claims after the Los Angeles fires. — Tech companies have put nearly half of their data centers in water-scarce regions. — A Houston-based startup is testing oil-eating microbes in a retired California oilfield.
San Francisco Chronicle
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- San Francisco Chronicle
Adding freeway lanes doesn't fix traffic. Why does California keep wasting billions on it?
People believe all sorts of things without any evidence. Take the common misconception that earthquakes are more likely in warm weather or that talking about a no-hitter in progress will jinx its completion. Another unfounded belief is that adding lanes to highways reduces traffic congestion. But unlike simple superstitions, adding freeway lanes is incredibly expensive, in terms of public tax dollars and the time spent on construction, and ultimately doesn't fix the problem. Worse, highway officials charged with improving mobility keep perpetuating the myth that adding lanes alleviates congestion. Countless studies — including those used by Caltrans for highway planning — have documented 'induced demand' for driving, meaning that adding new highway lanes in the hope of reducing traffic only encourages more drivers to use the road, which results in higher levels of congestion. The poster child project for this effect was the $1.6 billion Interstate 405 expansion in Los Angeles that began in 2011. After drivers suffered through years of mind-numbing construction closures, the new lanes were opened with great fanfare, and traffic congestion was worse than ever on Day 1. Right now, the California Transportation Commission is set to vote on half a dozen of these lane widening boondoggles that will widen highways in Los Angeles and Riverside counties, the Central Valley and the Bay Area at a cost of $1.25 billion in our limited tax dollars. It's well past time to put a stop to this. Not only will these highway widening projects do nothing to relieve traffic congestion, they will encourage more people to hit the roadways and push California further away from its goals for greenhouse gas reduction at a time when investment in our public transit systems would be far more effective. One thing that is not a myth, according to 99.9% of scientific experts, is that human beings are causing climate change through activities like driving gasoline-powered cars. Yet, the California Transportation Commission will vote to expand car infrastructure just weeks after the Trump administration blew up California's clean car rules, a move that will slow the transition to electric vehicles. Given this horrible development, one would think the state would look for alternative ways to reduce climate emissions from transportation. Widening freeways will only result in more smog, more congestion and more housing displacement. While all six of the projects that the commission is set to approve this year are classic money-wasters, one stands out: the 'interim' lane expansion of notoriously jammed Highway 37 that connects Solano and Marin counties. Caltrans and local policymakers have brushed aside concerns about endangered wildlife by advancing a bill this year that would exempt the project from California Endangered Species Act rules and dedicated nearly $500 million to this project — including $73 million that will be awarded by commission this week, all with the knowledge that sea-level rise projections anticipate that the entire corridor could be underwater as soon as 2040. The only traffic the project will ever relieve will be duck traffic. Let's talk about another myth, the one that says that thanks to the rise in the number of electric vehicles on the road, we don't really need to worry as much about climate change. Unfortunately, our electric future is in jeopardy with the Trump administration planning to eliminate incentives for EV purchases and striking down California's mandate to phase out gasoline-powered cars by 2035. But even if our renewable energy dream were to come true, that alone wouldn't come close to achieving our climate goals, and it certainly wouldn't alleviate traffic congestion. There are other projects the state could embark on if it really wants to get cars off the road and improve our quality of life. Our public transit systems are struggling to maintain service. Our existing streets and highways are crumbling due to poor maintenance. We also need major investment in the charging infrastructure for zero-emission trucks and trains that could reduce diesel pollution in communities near freeways. A broader solution would call for a holistic approach to housing, jobs and transportation that would eliminate the need for people to live so far from where they work. While some supporters of adding more lanes to freeways will counter that many people love to drive, many others simply are forced to do so due to a lack of better options. Although the California Transportation Commission has made some progress on driving alternatives in recent years, the idea persists that its primary mandate is road building and widening. That's simply not true. The mandate is to invest in a multimodal transportation system that includes rail, transit and active transportation to help us move through the world to work, school and elsewhere efficiently and improve our quality of life. Some will choose to do that in a car, but some want faster, cleaner options — and it's the commission's mandate to provide that.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$65 million project would link southbound 99 to westbound 58, but commission must first finalize $40 million outlay
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Brace yourself for more of those orange traffic cones on the freeway – more temporary inconveniences in the name of greater, permanent convenience. The California Transportation Commission will meet June 26 – 27 to finalize a committee recommendation that Kern County receives almost $40 million from an $810 million state fund. KGET reported last week about the commission's recommendation to apportion $39.9 million to the local project. The anticipated funding, which would supplement $25 million in already-committed dollars, would allow Caltrans to add a new leg to the Centennial Corridor – southbound 99 to westbound 58. That's according to the Kern Council of Governments, the local transportation planning organization. If it receives final approval, the $65 million project would not begin until mid-2027 and would take about two years to complete. In turn, navigating the state's ninth-largest city would get a whole lot easier. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bob Jones Trail wins final, critical approval from state — clearing way for construction
After a long and bumpy road, the missing link of the Bob Jones Trail received its last required approval on Friday, setting the stage for construction to finally start next year. The trail's redesigned connection was approved by the California Transportation Commission, guaranteeing the $48 million project will keep its state funding. Efforts to close a 4.5-mile gap in the path, connecting San Luis Obispo to the sea at Avila Beach, have been in the works for over a decade. The project has been stalled due to funding issues and opposition from property owners with land along the planned pathway. 'There are many reasons we have not given up on the Bob Jones Trail,' public safety being one of the biggest, SLO County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said at the commission meeting. On Friday, all of that patience and perseverance paid off when the state transportation commission voted unanimously to approve the decision. With all the approvals and funding in place, construction can begin next year. 'Now the work really begins,' Ortiz-Legg told The Tribune. Three items relating to the Bob Jones Trail came before of the Transportation Commission on Friday — two brought forward by SLO County, and one by the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments. The county asked for both approval of the new Bob Jones Trail alignment — which was redesigned to avoid property owned by Ray Bunnell, a SLO County rancher who opposed the project going through his land — and approval for its plan to build the trail in segments. SLOCOG asked the commission to allocate $5.7 million in State Transportation Improvement Program funds for the project. All items required approval in order for the county to keep its $18 million state Active Transportation Program grant, which was necessary to keep the project alive. All three items passed unanimously. 'It's such a huge hurdle,' county Public Works Department project manager Aaron Yonker told The Tribune. The decision 'advances this worthwhile and community-based project ... to create a safe, multi-modal access for all users,' he said. Nerves were high leading into Friday's meeting. SLO County Public Works staff waited to hear the result of their hard work, and SLO County residents in attendance — either in person or online — spoke passionately in support of the project. 'It has been a long time coming that we've been working on this project,' one SLO County resident and mother said during public comment. 'This trail segment is essential for full inclusion of people with disabilities.' Her daughter, now a freshman in high school, has been waiting for the trail to be built since she was just a girl, her mother said. Even though its been years since the project began, 'it's still so important,' she told her mother, she said. California Sen. John Laird also expressed his support in a letter submitted to the commission. Brian Manning, a legal representative, spoke at the meeting on behalf of Bunnell, who has been in negotiations with the county over his public safety concerns with the trail's current design. 'I want to be clear: He is not an opponent to the project, never has been,' Manning said of his client. Bunnell only opposed the trail interacting with his own property, the lawyer said. Manning said it was 'not entirely accurate' to represent the trail as being fully separated from traffic, as the county had. He pointed to a 600-foot stretch near the south end of Clover Ridge Lane, a dead-end road that runs next to Bunnell's property, where the bike path would share the road with drivers. However, the county said the entire trail will function effectively as a fully separated trail, despite the sections shared with the road. Though Bunnell and his agricultural tenant who lease his land say they use the road end daily, the county holds that it is a low traffic road with no through traffic. 'It is important to note that there is no vehicular throughput provided on this section of the road due to the road being a dead end road,' Yonker told The Tribune. 'As a result there is almost zero vehicular traffic on that southerly section.' Manning, cut off by the time limit, ended his comment with a request that approval be contingent on the addition of safety features requested by Bunnell, such as security fences along his property. The Bob Jones Trail was redesigned in October to avoid Bunnell's property after efforts to acquire his land failed. The new design will reroute onto a strip of Caltrans-owned land next to Highway 101 for a stretch between Clover Ridge Lane — near Bunnell's property — and Ontario Road, county civil engineer John Waddell previously told The Tribune. Caltrans originally committed to paying for construction on the land, but after it pulled out, the SLO Council of Governments allocated $7.8 million of its state transportation funds to cover the gap. The bookends on either end of the Caltrans corridor will be built in two phases. Phase one will complete the northern end from the Octagon Barn to Clover Ridge Lane using the rest of the $18 million ATP grant. Construction is expected to begin in 2026. Construction on phase two, which will finish the southern bookend from the Caltrans right-of-way to the Ontario Road staging area, will likely start in 2027-28. It will be paid for with the $9.6 million in contributions from the council of governments and the county's $5 million. To keep trail users safe along the highway segment, Caltrans will likely install a protective barrier between the highway and the path, built 10 to 12 feet away from the roadway, Waddell said. At current levels, the project will cost $48 million in total, SLO County Public Works Director previously told The Tribune. 'We're finally going to have something that we've been working for for so many years,' Supervisor Ortiz-Legg said. 'It feels really good to keep the promises that were made to the community.'
