BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1043
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 1043
(Salas) - As Introduced February 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Highways: State Highway Route 43
SUMMARY: Adds State Highway Route (SR) 43 to the list of
interregional and intercounty highway routes that are eligible
to use specific state transportation funds.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the state highway system through a listing and
description of segments of the state's regional and
interregional roads that are owned and operated by the
Department of Transportation (Caltrans). A "state highway" is
defined as any roadway that is acquired, laid out,
constructed, improved, or maintained as a state highway
pursuant to constitutional or legislative authorization.
2)Further defines the interregional road system as a subset of
the state highway system.
3)Requires certain transportation funds to be made available for
transportation capital improvement projects and to be
AB 1043
Page 2
programmed and expended for interregional and regional
improvements.
4)Directs the allocation of funds for transportation capital
improvements as follows:
a) Twenty-five percent for interregional improvements as
identified in the Interregional Transportation Improvement
Program (ITIP); and,
b) Seventy-five percent for regional improvements, as
identified in regional transportation improvement programs.
5)Of the 25% of funds for interregional improvements, 60% of
these funds must be used for improvements on highways
identified in statute as part of the interregional road system
and outside the boundaries of an urban area and for intercity
rail improvements; the remaining 40% of funds made available
to the state for work on other state highways must be
distributed 40% to northern California counties and 60% to
southern California counties.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: The state highway system serves a diverse range of
needs for the interregional movement of people and goods between
rural and highly urbanized areas. While all state routes are
important, the interstate system, interregional road system
routes, and other major freeway trade corridors form a
transportation network that is most critical to interregional
mobility and connectivity statewide. Together, these routes
carry over 80 percent of the total vehicle miles travelled
AB 1043
Page 3
annually on the state highway system.
The interregional road system is a statutorily defined series of
state highway routes, outside the urbanized areas, that provide
access to, and links between, the state's economic centers,
major recreation areas, and urban and rural regions. The
interregional road system routes are intended to provide the
following service:
1)Carry a major portion of the trips entering, traveling
through, or leaving the state.
2)Serve corridors of substantial statewide, interstate, and
international significance.
3)Connect all metropolitan areas and those urban areas with
populations concentrations over 2,5000 and all county seats
not otherwise served.
4)Serve those agricultural, natural resource areas, public-owned
recreational areas, and other travel generators of statewide
or major regional importance not otherwise served.
Of the 265 state highway routes, 93 are statutorily designated
as interregional routes. Of these, 10 are considered focus
routes--that is, routes that are the highest priority for use of
ITIP funds. Improving these routes to freeway or expressway
standards will provide a backbone highway system connecting
regions of the state. Money to provide such improvements,
however, is woefully limited. Funding identified in the 2014
ITIP is less than $1.3 billion over the next five years. This
level of funding is well below what is needed to 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
AB 1043
Page 4
of Corcoran and Hanford. The highway often experiences a high
volume of truck traffic with several segments experiencing truck
counts as high as 30% to 40% of total traffic volume.
AB 1043 would add SR 43 to the statutorily defined interregional
road system, thereby making it eligible to receive ITIP funds.
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.
Writing in support of the bill, the Kern County Association of
Governments notes that commuters use SR 43 from Fresno and
Corcoran and Wasco to get to two state prisons that are located
on SR 43 and that, in times of accidents on SR 99, SR 43 is used
as an alternate route and is easily overwhelmed with traffic.
Previous legislation: AB 680 (Salas) of 2013 was nearly
identical to this bill. AB 680 was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee on the suspense file.
SB 532 (Cogdill), Chapter 189, Statutes of 2009, added a segment
of SR 108 to the interregional road system so that an
alternative project on the route could be funded in lieu of the
previously programmed Oakdale Bypass project.
AB 2143 (Para) of 2006, would have added SR 43 to the
interregional road system. AB 2143 failed passage on the Senate
floor.
SB 532 (Torlakson) Chapter 598, Statutes of 2003, added a
portion of SR 84 and all of SR 239 to the interregional road
system.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 1043
Page 5
Support
Kern County Council of Governments
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
AB 1043
Page 6