BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 680
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 680 (Salas) - As Amended: March 19, 2013
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:12-4
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill adds State Route (SR) 43 to the list of eligible
interregional and inter-county highway routes, thus making
projects on this highway eligible for use of funds designated
for these routes.
FISCAL EFFECT
Addition of this route could change priorities for funding
interregional projects, but would not likely change the level of
funding made available for such projects.
COMMENTS
1)Background . The interregional road system comprises 34,000
lane-miles of the state highway system's 50,000 lane-miles,
and is statutorily defined as a series of 93 state highway
routes, outside the urbanized areas, providing access to, and
links between, the state's economic centers, major recreation
areas, and urban and rural regions. Within the interregional
road system, there is a subset of 34 high-emphasis routes
(24,000 lane-miles) consisting of most of the interstate
highways and 10 non-interstate focus routes. These 10 routes
represent the most critical interregional corridors and the
state's highest priority for upgrading, often to
freeway-expressway standards to the extent feasible.
Funding for such improvements is limited, however. About $1.1
billion is identified for interregional routes over the next
five years in the 2012 Interregional Transportation
Improvement Program (ITIP)-a level well below that needed to
AB 680
Page 2
address the preservation and expansion needs of the system.
SR 43 is located in the central San Joaquin Valley and
traverses the area in a north-south direction. Agriculture is
the most dominant land use along highway corridor. The route
is primarily rural with the exception of segments located
within the cities of Wasco, Shafter, and Selma and on the
outer fringes of Corcoran and Hanford. The highway often
experiences a high volume of truck traffic with several
segments experiencing counts as high as 30% to 40% of total
traffic volume.
2)Purpose . This bill's sponsor, Kings County Association of
Governments (KCAG), emphasizes that commuters use SR 43 from
Fresno and Corcoran and Wasco to get to two state prisons that
are located on SR 43. Furthermore, the sponsor notes that, in
times of accidents on SR 99, SR 43 is used as an alternate
route and is easily overwhelmed with traffic.
AB 680 adds SR 43 to the statutorily defined interregional
road system, thereby making it eligible for funds directed to
high-priority routes. In theory, adding SR 43 to the list of
eligible routes in an already-severely constrained program
would increase the competition for funds amongst other
interregional routes. In practice, it is doubtful that SR 43
will rise to the level of a high emphasis route or focus route
in the foreseeable future and, consequently, may not present
any real competition for these limited funds.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081