Posts Tagged: road
News
California’s already poor roads deteriorated to a whole new level of disrepair this winter. Sinkholes have popped up throughout the state and major roads have closed because of damage. To cite just a few major examples: Portions of Interstate 80 and Highways 50 and 49 were closed due to mudslides. Parts of Highway 1 remain closed because of storm damage. Numerous local roads were battered severely.
News
California’s 143,000 miles of local streets and roads are deteriorating rapidly, and the average local thoroughfare across the state is rated “at risk” because of its poor physical condition, according to a study commissioned by a coalition of local governments and their allies. A mix of state, local and federal funds – about $1.98 billion annually – is provided for California’s streets and roads, but the minimal amount needed to maintain the existing quality is $3.5 billion.
Opinion
OPINION: Even though 2015 was a record sales year for automakers, the percentage of ZEV sales decreased eight percent year over year in California. The Northeast states lag in ZEV sales behind California – presently accounting for less than half of one percent of the regional market – despite some states’ offering consumer incentives and efforts to build convenient refueling stations.
Analysis
Weeks after returning from the Paris summit on climate change where he was hailed as a leader in the movement to limit greenhouse gases, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a new transportation budget that celebrates the car. In 2016-17, Brown wants to spend $16 billion on transportation, and most of that would go toward making it easier for people to drive. The Democratic governor wants to build new roads and highways and repave old ones, and use more technology to speed traffic.
Opinion
Our transportation infrastructure is literally falling apart due to poor maintenance. Recently, because of deferred maintenance, a guard rail on an East Bay overpass fell onto I-880. The several tons of falling metal didn’t just hold up traffic, it also damaged cars and injured drivers. Our crumbling roads are more than just a nuisance. They’re dangerous.
Opinion
With news this week that California’s tax revenues came in $6-$8 billion stronger than previous estimates, California now has an undeniable choice: a high road that lifts up all our people and strengthens our state, or a low road that ignores the nearly one in four residents who live below the poverty line in the wealthiest state in the nation.
News
Few issues spark more local controversy than the parcel tax, a levy on property that raises money for specific local programs, such as schools, roads and fire fighting.
But their size, scope and purpose vary dramatically. And despite the intense emotions they enflame locally, parcel taxes have rarely hit the state Capitol’s radar —
A mid-1930s truck on a Kern County highway. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, Shutterstock)
