District: District 11 – San Diego and Imperial Counties
Contact: Aaron Hunter
Phone: (619) 688-6670
San Diego — The California Transportation Commission (CTC) allocated $830 million at its December meeting to fund a broad range of investments to improve access and safety, provide sustainable projects and help support the infrastructural backbone of the globe’s fifth-largest economy. Guided by Governor Gavin Newsom’s Build More, Faster – For All infrastructure agenda, these transformative projects are making communities safer, cleaner and healthier.
The approved allocations include $249 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) and another $306 million via Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
“These investments will help provide the next generation of transportation projects in California, strengthening efforts for bridge maintenance and renovation, increasing safety for people who walk and bike, expanding equitable access and continuing support for the movement of goods and services that fuel the state’s economic engine,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares.
In addition to major undertakings, such as the rehabilitation of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles and the Silicon Valley rail extension in San Jose, the allocation contains funds for local projects, including:
• The Orange Family Street Project in San Diego’s City Heights community will install traffic circles and buffered bike lanes and raise crosswalks to reduce traffic and improve pedestrian safety. (More details below)
• Nearly 10 miles of new bike lanes in the Wilmington neighborhood near the Port of Los Angeles will also include pedestrian and ADA upgrades, new sidewalks, shade trees and lighting.
• The L.A. River Greenway project will connect East San Fernando Valley with LA Metro’s North Hollywood rail station through a network of pedestrian and bicycle trails. • The purchase of zero-emission, high-capacity buses to serve residents of Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
San Diego County and Imperial County projects include:
- $7,200,000 in Imperial County on State Routes 78, 86, 98 and 111 to remove debris from the roadway and repair drainage systems, pavement, slopes, and embankments damaged by an August 2023 storm resulting in flash flooding.
- $2,400,000 in San Diego on Interstate 5 at the State Route 75 pump plant to replace damaged pumps and the pump control system and repair the discharge box damaged by an August 2023 storm that flooded the pump plant, causing water to spill into the pump house dry-pit, submerging pumps and motors and causing leakage from the discharge box.
- $375,000 in Oceanside on Interstate 5 to remove debris, backfill the eroded area, replace the culvert, replace a damaged dike, and pour a concrete ditch damaged by a January 2024 storm that caused an 18" culvert to fail, and eroded a slope. This supplemental is needed to include additional work recommendations based on a final investigation report that recommends constructing multiple new drainage inlets, replace additional damaged dike, repair damaged guardrail, and add more than originally anticipated backfill to the eroded area.
- $3,000,000 in San Diego on Interstate 5, State Routes 56, 78 and 905 to repair damaged pavement, drainage systems, and slope embankment damaged by a January 2024 storm that caused multiple sinkholes and washouts, as well as damage to drainage systems.
- $4,317,000 to the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to construct 2.1-miles of buffered bike lanes, 3 diverters, high visibility crosswalks (2 raised), neighborhood traffic circle, and additional traffic calming and pedestrian access features that will improve safety and comfort for people walking and biking for the Orange Family Friendly Street Project that will run along Orange Avenue, between 32nd Street and Estrella Avenue, in the City Heights community of San Diego.
- $8,064,000 to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and SANDAG to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure for the Zero-Emission Transit Enhancement Project (Electrification of the Imperial Avenue Division (IAD)) in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by implementing the supporting infrastructure for the future zero-emission fleet, including supporting the electric charging capacity and access of surrounding regional transit in San Diego County.
IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation's infrastructure to improve the sustainability and resiliency of our country's energy, water, broadband and transportation systems. California has received nearly $62 billion in federal infrastructure funding since its passage. It includes investments to upgrade the state's roads, bridges, rail, public transit, airports, ports, waterways and the electric vehicle charging network. The funding alone has already created more than 170,000 jobs in California.
SB 1 has invested approximately $5 billion annually toward transportation projects since 2017. It provides funding split between the state and local agencies. Road projects progress through construction phases more quickly based on the availability of funds, including projects that are partially funded by SB 1.
For more information, visit: Build.ca.gov.