California’s crumbling roads and bridges targeted for a facelift in Gavin Newsom’s new budget

Thousands of California state bridges, as well as crumbling roads, that badly need repair would get a $2 billion shot of new money under the budget revision proposed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom’s budget plan also includes $4.2 billion to complete the High Speed Rail project in the Central Valley, provide help for eventually launching service between Merced and Bakersfield and perform other work.

The budget has $500 million for projects that include encouraging walking and biking. Though fewer vehicles used the roads last year, California’s pedestrian death toll in the first six months of 2020 was up 5% to 485.

And there’s $1 billion for transportation projects that will help people get around during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The funds are part of Newsom’s May budget changes. He unveiled Friday a $267.8 billion spending plan that was bolstered by a $75 billion surplus from tax revenue and $27 billion in federal stimulus money.

The budget does not specify which road and bridge projects could get priority. It says the state plans to “accelerate vital safety projects and important ‘fix-it-first’ projects on state highways and bridges.”

About 6% of the state’s 25,763 bridges, or 1,536, are considered “structurally deficient,” says a report earlier this year by the nonpartisan American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

That doesn’t mean all those bridges and roads are unsafe. But it does mean that the bridge probably can’t handle, or has outlived, its capacity or original design purpose.

California is widely regarded as having some of the nation’s most congested roads, notably in the Los Angeles and Bay areas. All of the 10 most deficient bridges in those areas.

Among the local findings, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s 2020 National Bridge Survey:

▪ Sacramento County, 736 bridges, with 443 rated good, 274 fair and 19 poor.

▪ Fresno County, 889 bridges, 354 good, 490 fair, 45 poor.

▪ Stanislaus County, 379 bridges, 114 good, 217 fair, 48 poor.

▪ San Luis Obispo County, 394 bridges, 197 good, 173 fair, 24 poor.

▪ Merced County, 528 bridges, 204 good, 268 fair, 56 poor.

▪ Tulare County, 609 bridges, 262 good, 313 fair, 34 poor.

Russell Snyder, executive director of the California Asphalt Pavement Association, saw the new spending as insufficient.

He called the new budget “a missed opportunity to accelerate road repairs in a meaningful way.”

Snyder saw “far too much emphasis in the governor’s revised budget for transportation on beautification, muddled climate action plans and other bureaucratic exercises.”

The budget includes $1.4 billion to demonstrate and lease or buy zero-emission rail, bus and trucks and a statewide clean-up effort which will include a bid to “beautify the state’s transportation network.”

Despite having the nation’s highest motor fuel taxes, and working with an ambitious 2017 state program to repair and replace damaged roads, California roads and bridges still need lots of financial help.

The state was projected to face a $6.1 billion annual shortfall as the coronavirus pandemic sent fuel tax revenue declining and concern about climate change spurred warnings about crumbling roads.

The assessment was part of a 287-page draft report, “The State Highway System Management Plan,” prepared by the state transportation department for the California Transportation Commission.

“California’s infrastructure is in mediocre condition and requires attention,” said the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2019 “Report Card for California’s Infrastructure.”

“While the state legislature, municipalities, and California voters have made strides in recent years to raise additional revenue for our infrastructure, we have a lot of catch-up to play, and large funding gaps remain,” it said.

Qualified bridge inspectors look at the state’s bridges once every two years. Any issues that require critical repairs are addressed right away, or the bridge is closed or restricted until the repairs can be made.

State, city or county owners usually repair or replace bridges, and between 300-500 bridges would probably be replaced each year. Funding comes from federal, state and local sources.

State funding sources include a 50.5 cents a gallon state tax, plus a federal tax of 18.3 cents a gallon. Those taxes, plus other fees motorists pay, put the levy paid on a gallon of gasoline in California at 81.45 cents a gallon, the nation’s highest such tax as of January 1, said the American Petroleum Institute.

The state increase was part of the 2017 transportation plan, referred to as Senate Bill 1, aimed at improving the state’s roads and bridges far into the future.

The tax increase was designed to raise about $5.4 billion annually for highways, bridges, transit and local roads, though it was never designed to cure all the state’s transportation problems.

But gasoline consumption plunged 8.4% in fiscal 2020, the 12 month period that ended July 1, 2020, and is down again so far this fiscal year.

The reduced driving, though, meant Caltrans could speed up its work, the budget said.

It proposed another 548 state and contract engineering positions “to take advantage of recent bid savings and continue to accelerate projects, further reducing its repair and maintenance backlog on the state’s primary highway assets.”