OAKLAND – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. will join Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and other government, business and transportation leaders in Oakland tomorrow to discuss the urgent need to fix and fund California’s aging roads, highways and critical infrastructure.
When: Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 19, 2015 at 11:00 a.m.
Where: Port of Oakland, 530 Water Street, Oakland, CA 94607
**NOTE: This media availability is open to credentialed media only.
In June, Governor Brown called a special session of the Legislature to address how the state funds its transportation infrastructure needs. Permanent and sustainable funding is needed to maintain and repair the state’s roads and highways, improve key trade corridors and support efforts to improve local infrastructure.
“We must also deal with longstanding infrastructure challenges,” Governor Brown said in his inaugural address earlier this year. “Each year, we fall further and further behind and we must do something about it. So I am calling on Republicans and Democrats alike to come together and tackle this challenge.”
Caltrans, the state’s transportation department, maintains 50,000 lane miles of highway and nearly 13,000 state-owned bridges. While the repair, maintenance and efficient operation of the state’s highway system are key to continued economic growth, current funding fails to adequately address the state’s needs. In fact, California’s current fuel excise tax is sufficient to fund only $2.3 billion of work – leaving $5.7 billion in unfunded repairs each year.