‘Self-help’ key to highway funding

Last week, another major traffic-relieving infrastructure project was completed in the city, and the collective rejoicing from Petaluma motorists was almost audible.

Completion of the brand new, $40 million Old Redwood Highway interchange at Highway 101 is a significant achievement, not only because of the traffic headaches the construction work caused, but also because of the funding challenges the city and county had to overcome to finance the project.

Drivers on the Old Redwood overpass - one of only five ways to traverse Highway 101 in the city - will recall not long ago navigating complicated lane changes and giant earth mounds as workers rebuilt a much wider and smoother bridge with on- and off-ramps in the exact spot as the old span. Go drive the new overpass now, and that nightmare that we put up with for more than two years seems like a fading memory.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this project is the final bill. Of the $40 million price tag, the state only contributed $4 million. The rest came from the Sonoma County Transportation Authority ($20 million) and the City of Petaluma ($16 million). This is important because, as state and federal transportation money dries up, we are going to have to help ourselves to complete massive infrastructure projects like the widening of Highway 101 through the Sonoma-Marin Narrows.

On the county side, the 2004 voter-approved Measure M sales tax officially made us a so-called “self-help county.” Measure M has been used to leverage hundreds of millions of dollars for the Highway 101 widening project through the county, not to mention rebuild local roads, construct bike lanes and partially fund the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system. Without it, there is no doubt that our transportation infrastructure would be a skeleton of what it is today.

From Petaluma’s perspective, the city’s creative funding of its portion of the Old Redwood interchange could serve as a model for other communities trying to complete infrastructure improvements. The state dissolved redevelopment agencies - a key local funding mechanism - in 2011, essentially pulling the rug out from under the city as it budgeted money for the interchange.

Petaluma sued the state and was eventually allowed to use $8 million from earlier redevelopment bond proceeds. The difference was made up by developer impact fees.

Another $11 million of the city’s redevelopment money is still tied up in state court. Of this, $7 million was originally earmarked for the Rainier Avenue extension, a badly needed crosstown connector. The city council this week approved the project’s environmental report, essentially ending a decades-long debate over the merits of the road, and leaving a funding search as the last hurdle to construction. A state appellate court ruling against the city last week, however, makes it unlikely that Petaluma will be able to use redevelopment money for the project.

On a larger scale, the search for funding to complete the Highway 101 widening project through the city, and south to Novato, does not look promising, despite the self-help attitude of our local leaders. A remaining $225 million funding gap - including a $120 million shortfall on the Sonoma County side - will require state and federal assistance to complete. Unfortunately, transportation funding sources on nearly all levels are disappearing at the same time.

Federally, the Highway Trust Fund has been limping along at near depletion for years, and the political will in Washington is only focused on short-term fixes, as lawmakers demonstrated yet again last week.

California’s State Transportation Improvement Program, the primary highway funding source that, in past years, has been flush with up to $1.8 billion, only has $30 million available for statewide transportation projects in the upcoming two-year funding cycle. This essentially means there will be no available state money from this fund to widen Highway 101 until at least 2018. State lawmakers, currently holding a special session in Sacramento on transportation, are only discussing emergency funding to fix crumbling infrastructure. A highway expansion project, like the Narrows, does not qualify.

State Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), whose district includes the Narrows south of Petaluma, has been rallying leaders to find a creative funding solution. State Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis), whose district includes Petaluma, should engage more on this important issue.

Finally, at the local level, our workhorse Measure M has essentially been spent through 2024. It will certainly need to be extended, but with nearly nine years left until the 20-year measure expires, it could be at least another three years until it makes fiscal sense to renew it. Perhaps it is time to talk about a new sales tax measure dedicated to Highway 101 widening - only 40 percent of Measure M funds are earmarked for the widening work. Any new tax measure, however, would need to be artfully crafted to avoid an embarrassing defeat like the one voters handed a local road funding tax in June.

Supervisor David Rabbitt, Petaluma Councilwoman Kathy Miller, Rohnert Park Councilman Jake Mackenzie - the south county representatives on the SCTA - as well as SCTA Executive Director Suzanne Smith should continue turning over every rock until a funding source is found to complete the widening project and end the traffic bottleneck for drivers heading south through Petaluma and into Marin County.

When that day comes, and the ribbon is cut on the final piece of the highway project, the collective rejoicing from Sonoma County motorists will be deafening.