California Dump Truck Owners Association (CDTOA) - California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

Decades of neglect of California’s transportation infrastructure amounts to an annual burden of $40 billion a year for the motoring public, according to a report released Thursday by TRIP, a Washington, DC transportation think tank.

“Even with the efforts of the governor and the legislature over the past several years, we still have a huge gap – which this report clearly shows – and it’s hitting the public where it hurts,” said Transportation California Executive Director Mark Watts.

Despite the short-term boost from the federal stimulus program, California’s funding to improve and rehabilitate bridges and major roadways stands at $1.5 billion a year.  Current needs average $5.5 billion a year.  Transit needs are now $8.6 billion annually, but funding is $1.7 billion a year.

Read the TRIP report

“We are short nearly $11 billion annually to meet our transportation needs,” Watts said.  “It now costs more to pay for the consequences of inadequate roads than it would to fix them.”

Safety, congestion and road conditions are an issue in every part of the state.  In “Future Mobility in California,” TRIP documents that 68 percent of California’s urban highways are congested, and vehicle travel is expected to increase by another 20 percent by 2025.  The statewide cost of congestion, according to TRIP, is $18.7 billion annually.

Roads in poor condition create extra vehicle operating costs -- $13.5 billion annually in California.  Nearly a third of the state’s bridges and overpasses need significant repair or rehabilitation.

The traffic fatality rate on the state’s non-Interstate rural roads is more than three times higher than the fatality rate on all other roads and highways in the state.  According to TRIP, the cost of serious traffic crashes in which roadway characteristics were a contributing factor was approximately $7.6 billion in California in 2008.

Watts pointed out that voters in counties up and down the state have voted to approve local sales tax measures to support transportation. “Local expenditures, coupled with state programs and the federal stimulus program, are producing some positive results, but they amount to far less than we need to right the system,” he said.

“A robust federal transportation package and a new and reliable state revenue source are essential to provide relief to the motoring public,” Watts said.

The current federal transportation program was extended to December 18.  Congress will need to authorize a new federal surface transportation program or extend the current program to allow federal highway dollars to continue to be provided to the states.

Read Transportation California's news release with more details about poor roads, their causes, and how this affects Californians: click here.