CTC allocates $2.7 million from SB 1 Gas Tax Funds for projects in Monterey County

The Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) announced that the California Transportation Commission has awarded $2.7 million from the SB 1 gas tax to fund several projects in Monterey County.
According to TAMC executive director Debbie Hale, “This money will enable them to further improve safety and enhance mobility in Monterey County.” She went on to add that, “Proposition 6 on the November ballot would remove this critical funding source and reduce their ability to construct many of the local planned road maintenance and regional projects throughout the county.”
The projects funded by the Commission include safety improvements on a southern Monterey County bridge, building a transit facility in King City and providing funding for network integration to extend passenger rail service to Monterey County. The project allocations are:
• $1.8 million to revamp the San Antonio River Bridge on US Highway 101 in Bradley from the State Highway Operations and Protection Program.
• $242,000 in matching funds for the Measure X “South County Operations and Maintenance Facility’ from the SB 1 Location Partnership Program, which will enable Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) to build an operations/maintenance facility in King City.
• $163,000 to MST to purchase automatic passenger counters to install on transit buses, also funded from the SB 1 Local Partnership Program.
• $500,000 for the network integration for the Rail Extension to Monterey County Project from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP).
The $1.8 million to improve the condition of the San Antonio River Bridge is one of 50 projects that were allocated funds to help bring goods to market faster, relieve traffic congestion and provide additional funding on transportation investments that counties have made in their own communities.
The $500,000 awarded to the Rail Extension Project is the second TIRCP allocation that the project has received from the Commission. This project to extend passenger rail service in Monterey County received $10 million for the Salinas Rail Kick Start which is the first phase of the extension project in April and the Transportation Agency anticipates receiving an additional $12 million for the project when the Commission allocates more funding in December of 2018.
SB 1, the landmark transportation infrastructure bill signed by Governor Brown in April 2017, invests $54 billion over the next decade to fix roads, freeways and bridges in California communities and puts more dollars towards transit and safety.