Voter-Approved Bonds to Provide $825 Million For Northern California Freight Projects

Voter-Approved Bonds to Provide $825 Million For Northern California Freight
Projects

OAKLAND, Calif., April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The $3 billion slate of highway,
rail and seaport improvements approved for funding today by the California
Transportation Commission (CTC) includes $825 million for 14 projects in
Northern California. The entire 79-project investment program will be funded
through the statewide Trade Corridor Improvement Fund (TCIF), which is aimed
at improving California's goods-movement infrastructure. The TCIF is one of
several separate funding programs created by voter approval of the $20 billion
Proposition 1B transportation bond in November 2006.
Six of the 14 Northern California goods-movement projects approved by the
CTC are in the Bay Area. These include improvements at the Port of Oakland,
relocation of the Interstate 80 Cordelia truck scales and the addition of an
eastbound truck-climbing lane on Interstate 580 over the Altamont Pass. (A
complete list of TCIF projects is available on the CTC Web site at:
http://www.catc.ca.gov.)
"To compete effectively with Southern California," explained Alameda
County Supervisor and MTC Vice Chair Scott Haggerty, "MTC partnered with the
Central Valley and Sacramento regions to develop a comprehensive investment
program for improving freight movement in Northern California." Noting that
Proposition 1B did not mandate specific funding allocations between Southern
and Northern California, Haggerty added, "The CTC's decision shows the
effectiveness of this cooperative, regional approach."
In addition to MTC, Bay Area members of the Northern California regional
partnership included the Port of Oakland, the Alameda County Congestion
Management Agency, the Solano Transportation Authority, Caltrans District 4
and representatives of the Bay Area business community. Projects supported by
the partners are clustered along the two major trade corridors that run
through the Bay Area: the Central Corridor that roughly follows Interstate 80
from the Bay Area through Sacramento to the California/Nevada border and
beyond, and the Altamont Corridor, running from the Port of Oakland along
Interstates 880/238/580 to the Central Valley.
In the Central Corridor, forecasts call for a considerable increase in
tonnage and value of commodities carried by both truck and rail in the next 20
years. Yet, the Cordelia truck scales date from 1958 and are undersized and
unable to process existing truck volumes, much less projected volumes.
"Inefficiencies at the current facility often result in trucks lining up on
the Interstate, causing serious congestion and unsafe conditions in a vital
trade and commute corridor," said Solano County Supervisor and MTC
Commissioner Jim Spering. "New, relocated truck scales will improve throughput
and safety in the area for trucks and passenger vehicles."
The addition of a truck-climbing lane to eastbound Interstate 580 over the
Altamont Pass is expected to provide significant congestion relief at a
serious regional bottleneck. "The Altamont Pass is a major chokepoint for both
passenger vehicles and freight as trucks struggle to climb the grade," noted
MTC Commissioner Haggerty. "A truck climbing lane is desperately needed to
help alleviate the congestion in this corridor."
MTC is the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area's transportation planning,
coordinating and financing agency.
SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Carolyn Clevenger, +1-510-817-5736, or John Goodwin, +1-510-817-5862, Mobile,
+1-510-384-7291, both of Metropolitan Transportation Commission