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Re: Gas Taxes, and the CA Constitution
Author: BOB2
Date: 10-05-2019 - 12:22
Hutch, California gas tax funds do not go into the general fund, that is prohibited under the CA constitution. And, SB 620 puts a lot of the sales tax per gallon into a supposed transportation "lock box" for transportation uses. Of course, folks often do fail to include the sales tax component, in the totals state tax per gallon.
How much do you think the I-210 from La Canada to Tujunga rehab ended up costing, after the simple "maintenance project" discovered problems they had not anticipated. After they started to do the pavement repair, they discovered much more damage to the roadway, from poor initial drainage design (back in the late 60's), from 45 years of "seasonal" "springs" that pop up under the freeway, that had washed out the sub grade, and from 45 years of truck damage, by trucks much larger than it was originally designed for. It turned into the "project from hell" in terms of what the original estimates were according to one former colleague at CT.
The cost of the I-5 from the OC Line to the 605, and from the 134 to the 405, are examples of 60 and 70 year old freeways needing complete rebuilding and modernized design, in addition to adding more capacity... And, neither of those are cheap projects.
The longer we put off state of good repair "maintenance" the more the costs go up, not in an "additive" way, but in an "exponential" way. And, it costs us directly, I've lost two still "new" $300 tires in the last five years on the 210... Which no one at any trucking company ripping up that road reimbursed me a nickel for.
Now, if we could just get keep these so-called "Complete Streets" idiots who support wasting taxpayer money on these "road diets" to make congestion worse to supposedly "discourage" auto use (punish the "evil" auto user with intentionally "planned" traffic congestion delays) , and start spending it on our local signal systems (which actually do improve safety to folks like pedestrians, as well as excess traffic speeds) and much needed local road maintenance (I've spent on bike tires because of bad streets, too).
They don't pay taxes to any damned "gubmint" in Somalia, though... So there are alternative models...to our "awful" system...
How much do you think the I-210 from La Canada to Tujunga rehab ended up costing, after the simple "maintenance project" discovered problems they had not anticipated. After they started to do the pavement repair, they discovered much more damage to the roadway, from poor initial drainage design (back in the late 60's), from 45 years of "seasonal" "springs" that pop up under the freeway, that had washed out the sub grade, and from 45 years of truck damage, by trucks much larger than it was originally designed for. It turned into the "project from hell" in terms of what the original estimates were according to one former colleague at CT.
The cost of the I-5 from the OC Line to the 605, and from the 134 to the 405, are examples of 60 and 70 year old freeways needing complete rebuilding and modernized design, in addition to adding more capacity... And, neither of those are cheap projects.
The longer we put off state of good repair "maintenance" the more the costs go up, not in an "additive" way, but in an "exponential" way. And, it costs us directly, I've lost two still "new" $300 tires in the last five years on the 210... Which no one at any trucking company ripping up that road reimbursed me a nickel for.
Now, if we could just get keep these so-called "Complete Streets" idiots who support wasting taxpayer money on these "road diets" to make congestion worse to supposedly "discourage" auto use (punish the "evil" auto user with intentionally "planned" traffic congestion delays) , and start spending it on our local signal systems (which actually do improve safety to folks like pedestrians, as well as excess traffic speeds) and much needed local road maintenance (I've spent on bike tires because of bad streets, too).
They don't pay taxes to any damned "gubmint" in Somalia, though... So there are alternative models...to our "awful" system...
