SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The California Alliance for Jobs has released a new video that once again shows from the car’s perspective what kind of roads too many of us are driving on.
The video, Bad Roads Tour 2015: The Journey Continues, is a follow-up to our first Bad Roads video and looks at pavement conditions in parts of San Joaquin, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The first video is here. Photos and more information about locations we shot are here, here and here.
These examples are local streets and roads, but in California transportation funding is largely a state responsibility. But the base state gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1994, and today is worth only half the nominal 18 cents per gallon when inflation is factored in.
Coupled with the fact that cars are more fuel-efficient than ever, and that many are hybrids or all-electric vehicles, the revenues available to maintain our road network is inadequate. The state has a maintenance backlog of $59 billion; at the local level it’s $78 billion.
If nothing is done, in 10 years one-quarter of all local streets and roads will be in failed condition -- they will look a lot like these examples.
The Legislature remains in a special session called by Governor Brown to work on transportation funding. While there are disagreements among lawmakers about how to solve the problem, everyone acknowledges there is a problem. Isn’t it time to begin fixing it now?
