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| March 11, 2011
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California Cancels Sale of Transportation Bonds |
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More than a dozen road projects scheduled to be under construction this year in the San Francisco Bay Area will be delayed as California canceled the sale of transportation bonds approved by voters in 2006. It's an attempt to save about $175 million in debt payments to reduce California's $26.6 billion deficit, and it will mark the second time the issuance of bonds has been halted in the past six months.
Canceling the bond sales was done at the request of Gov. Jerry Brown. It doesn't require legislative action. More than $1 billion worth of projects in the region will be affected, and $2.1 billion statewide, the San Jose Mercury News reported. They include projects that former California Transportation Director Will Kempton called "the cream of the crop" when Proposition 1B, a $20 billion bond measure, was approved five years ago. Projects on hold include adding carpool lanes on Interstate 880 between Milpitas and San Jose, on Interstate 580 in the Livermore Valley, and on U.S. 101 in Sonoma and Marin counties. Merging lanes on U.S. 101 in San Mateo County could also be delayed. The state is under a time crunch to deliver. By law, all projects funded by these bonds must have money allocated by June of next year and be under construction by the end of 2012. Spokesman Matt Rocco said the California Department of Transportation will allocate funding so construction can begin before the end of next year, and that is the deadline the state is operating on -- although the agencies in charge of the projects had set start dates this year. "We will not miss our 2012 deadline," Rocco said. "That is what we are looking at." Questions regarding this article may be directed to editor@aashtojournal.org. |