Free Republic

Legislation authorizing the Department of Transportation to contract with public and private entities to build toll roads goes before the state Assembly's Appropriations Committee today. The hearing comes two days after yet another report pegs California's metropolitan areas as having some of the most choked freeways in the nation. On Monday, the Texas Transportation Institute's annual report on freeway congestion put San Diego County's rush-hour traffic as 12th worst in the nation and Riverside County as having the nation's ninth worst commute. Many see toll roads as a way to alleviate the traffic nightmare, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. So do...

With cash-strapped California slashing transportation system spending, support has started to grow in Sacramento to allow private companies to partner with Caltrans to build toll roads to help drive the Golden State out of gridlock. Freeways would remain free, but new roads that otherwise might never have a chance of being constructed with the state's current budget problems could be built with private money, and users would pay a toll to drive on them. Legislators from both sides of the aisle have been gravitating to the plan, backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as they seek new ways to pay for...

A legislative package that calls for the state to build more toll roads in partnership with the private sector, charge tolls in existing car-pool lanes and streamline the way it designs and builds new roads was unveiled in Sacramento on Thursday. State Business, Transportation and Housing Secretary Sunne Wright McPeak announced the makeup of the package Thursday, calling the "GoCalifornia" plan an innovative reform and revitalization measure for California highways. "We're putting the 'go' back into California's transportation system which has stalled after years of neglect," McPeak said in a written statement issued from the agency's Sacramento headquarters. "GoCalifornia will...

Transportation reform next on state's agenda Fancy Bay Bridge not in the plan, environmental reform, toll roads are State transportation secretary Sunne Wright McPeak returned to familiar ground when she laid out for the Oakland Chamber of Commerce her and her boss' ambitious vision to restore California's golden luster. Her boss, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is expected to reveal details of his "GoCalifornia" initiative any day. It will feature toll roads, converting some carpool lanes into tolled "HOT lanes," streamlining the state's environmental laws and promoting high-density housing in urban areas near mass transit.On Friday, McPeak offered the clearest, most comprehensive...