The California Transportation Commission (CTC) announced last week the allocation of $1 billion for projects aimed at making the state’s highways more resilient to climate change and solving mobility challenges.
“These investments will harden the transportation system against the devastating results of extreme weather events. The allocations made today will add to the electric charging infrastructure, increase mobility options for people who walk and bicycle and enhance our goal to improve safety and economic equity for all users,” Tony Tavares, Caltrans Director, said.
The allocations included nearly $623 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure law), and another $295 million identified as part of Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
Projects approved for funding included $15 million for the installation of electric charging infrastructure to power electric buses at San Mateo County’s SamTrans system; $9.5 million for new bike lanes, crosswalks, pedestrian push buttons, signal heads and other safety upgrades to SR-82 in Santa Clara County; and $114,000 for the construction of service bays to maintain a fleet of fuel cell electric buses for Humboldt County.
California has received nearly $62 billion in federal infrastructure funding as part of the IIJA, which has created more than 170,000 jobs. In addition, SB 1 has invested nearly $5 billion annually since passing in 2017 and provides funding to state and local agencies.