Bay Area agency places 3 Solano projects on list
By Erin Pursell and Robin Miller/Reporter Staff
TheReporter.Com
Article Launched:01/11/2007 06:32:48 AM PST
A wish list of nearly $2 billion in highway work compiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission includes three Solano County projects hoping to win a chunk of a state bond voters passed in November.

Funding toward work on Highway 12, the interchange at Interstate 80 and I-680 and relocation of the Cordelia truck scales were among 18 projects on the MTC list submitted Wednesday for state money.

"There's relief in sight for the interchange and Highway 12," said Solano County Supervisor Jim Spering. "This a huge step for keeping these projects on schedule."

MTC is recommending that Highway 12 be widened to four lanes between Fairfield and Napa, Spering noted. "Solano County did quite well," he said. "Most of our projects have pretty good support."

Specifically on the MTC list for Solano County is $150 million for the I-80 and 680 interchange and I-80 HOV extension and $88.6 million for the widening on Highway 12. The funding request in regard to the Cordelia truck scales was not available.

The California Transportation Commission will decide next month how to spend the $4.5 billion in statewide congestion-relief money that voters approved in November as part of the $20 billion Proposition 1B.

The MTC - the transportation coordinating, planning and financing agency for the Bay Area - had announced a tentative list of priority projects last month. The state Transportation Commission will now make the final determination about which projects will ultimately be funded.

The pool of funds available for local projects is only about $1.5 billion, officials have estimated. Still, the MTC list included more than that in order to give state officials some choices.

Erin Pursell can be reached at county@thereporter.com. Robin Miller can be reached at citydesk@thereporter.com.