California Transportation Commission allocates $125 million for highway upgrades

Proposition 1B projects that received allocations include:

• Central Valley—The commission allocated $43 million to widen three miles of Highway 99 from a four-lane expressway to a six-lane freeway and build a new interchange near Atwater, Calif., in Merced County. According to the commission, safety and traffic congestion will be improved by the addition of a lane in each direction and the elimination of four at-grade intersections. Currently, commercial and passenger traffic is confronted with cross traffic and/or slow vehicles entering or exiting the highway via at-grade intersections. The at-grade intersections will be removed. For more information, click here.
• Sacramento—The commission allocated $10 million to reconstruct an interchange and relocate and expand the existing park-and-ride lot in Elk Grove on Route 99 at Sheldon Road. Built in the 1950s, the Sheldon Road interchange is overdue for much-needed improvements, the commission noted. The project will ease traffic congestion by adding four new lanes as well as turn lanes on the overpass, according to the commission. Other improvements included in this project will aim to enhance safety for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. For more information, click here.
• San Diego —The commission allocated $72 million to construct a new freeway-to-freeway interchange at the junction of State Routes 52 and 67 in the community of Santee, Calif. According to the commission, the project will reduce traffic congestion on Interstate 8 and local arterials in Santee and provide direct access between east San Diego County communities and job centers to the west and north. For more information, click here.

“These projects will relieve traffic congestion, improve air quality, and more importantly, enable Californians to spend more time with their friends and families instead of being stuck in traffic,” California Department of Transportation Director Will Kempton said.

The Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality and Port Security Bond Act of 2006—approved by the voters as Proposition 1B on Nov. 7, 2006—includes a program of funding from $4.5 billion to be deposited in the Corridor Mobility Improvement Account (CMIA). The funds in the CMIA are to be available to the California Transportation Commission, upon appropriation in the annual budget bill by the California Legislature, for allocation for performance improvements on the state highway system or major access routes to the state highway system.