BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1043
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1043 (Salas)
As Introduced February 26, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
|----------------+------+----------------------+---------------------|
|Transportation |13-2 |Frazier, Achadjian, |Kim, Melendez |
| | |Baker, Bloom, Campos, | |
| | |Chu, Daly, Dodd, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Medina, | |
| | |Nazarian, O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+---------------------|
|Appropriations |12-5 |Gomez, Bloom, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo |Wagner |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, Weber, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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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:
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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 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: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, "Addition of this route could change priorities for
funding interregional projects, but would not likely change the
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level of funding made available for such projects."
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% of the total vehicle miles travelled 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 25,000 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.
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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 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.
This bill 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.
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0000231