SamTrans officials to vote on sales tax measure

“There is no more pressing issue other than housing that’s confronting San Mateo County and the region than traffic congestion,” said Charles Stone, chair of the SamTrans Board of Directors. “What we’ve come up with is an excellent example of how to listen to diverse interests and balance them to get something very good for traffic congestion and advancing public transit.”

If approved by two thirds of voters in the county, the tax would last 30 years and bring in an estimated $80 million annually to be managed by the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. SamTrans spokesman Dan Lieberman said the board on Wednesday will be looking at broad categories for spending rather than potential individual projects within them.

According to a staff report, those categories include public transit, for which 50 percent of revenue or $1.2 billion would be earmarked; highway and interchange improvements would see 22.5 percent or $540 million; 12.5 percent or $300 million would be reserved for local road improvements and pothole repairs; 10 percent or $240 million would be spent on regional transit connections; and 5 percent or $120 million would go to projects benefiting bicyclists and pedestrians.

According to a draft of the investment plan, specific projects that could see funding from the measure range from the installation of new traffic signals in Foster City, for example, to ferry service in Redwood City and improvements to the State Route 92/Highway 101 interchange.

Spending will be reviewed by an independent citizens’ oversight committee and benefit all cities in the county, according to the report. Also, revenue cannot be taken by the state.

“For me personally the groundbreaking aspect is the 50 percent for public transit,” Stone said. “In order to do the types of innovative things that will get more riders on buses and help begin measures that will expand Caltrain capacity, we need more revenue, there’s no way we can do it utilizing what we get today.”

One of those innovative things that SamTrans officials hope will get more riders on buses is an express bus network, which could also see funding from the sales tax measure. Express buses are meant to travel largely on tolled “express lanes” on Highway 101. Those lanes would be constructed as part of the Managed Lanes project, which is fully funded and would not see any money from the sales tax measure if it passed, Stone added.

The vote this Wednesday comes about a month after SamTrans adopted its budget, and various cuts were made to balance it. And $12 billion in unfunded transit needs were identified throughout the county in the “Get Us Moving” outreach process, according to the report. 

That process entailed numerous stakeholder meetings, surveys completed by nearly 15,000 residents and 100 presentations to city councils and other groups. 

“This is outreach at levels I can’t remember before in my lifetime,” Stone said, adding that the latest polling results were encouraging. “If this does not pass or go on the ballot, we’ll see the trend of reduced service continuing and I’m concerned about what that means for our most vulnerable residents. ... This is a local revenue stream that stays in San Mateo County for projects that matter here.” 

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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