BILL ANALYSIS Ó 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