Solano County fared better than most of the state's 58 counties in grabbing a portion of the $286 billion federal transportation bill - $74 per capita

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Article Last Updated: 8/23/2005 08:46 AM

Flow of transit funding
Vast disparity in way federal money distributed

TheReporter.Com

Solano County fared better than most of the state's 58 counties in grabbing a portion of the $286 billion federal transportation bill.
It works out to about $74 per capita, ranking Solano County 16th when compared to other counties in the state.

More than $30 million was pulled by area congressional representatives for such projects as the interchange at Interstate 80, I-680 and state Highway 12, Jepson Parkway upgrades, a Rio Vista bridge study and construction of a carpool lane on I-80 in Vallejo.

While the state's congressional delegation was able to direct nearly $23 billion to projects in California, there is a backlog of $100 billion in projects, mostly because of a swelling state population and years of tight budgets. That backlog includes aging roads and bridges, clogged freeways and inadequate public transportation.
Of the $23 billion designated for the state, $3.4 billion will be earmarked for projects selected by lawmakers. The rest will be doled out to local planning agencies and the state Department of Transportation.
That is the good news.

But what is clear from the results of the once-every-six-years transportation budget process is that there are certain disturbing disparities when it comes to which counties get what sums of money for vital transportation projects.
For some counties the funding 'flowed like a carefree commute,' reported an Associated Press story on the transportation bill, while a few smaller counties received no funding whatsoever for special projects.

An Associated Press analysis of the funding bill pointed to two of the fastest growin"