Council Backs Roadwork Ballot Measure

Despite some misgivings, the Berkeley City Council last night voted unanimously to support a $7.8 billion transportation plan that would reconfigure Measure B funding throughout Alameda County -- the last local governing board to do so.

The one-time-only ballot measure will come before voters in November.

The Transportation Expenditure Plan would bring millions of dollars to roadwork, bike and pedestrian improvements, improved highway access, public transit and economic development projects.

Built into the 30-year plan are safeguards that will ensure the money is spent appropriately, including annual audits, independent watchdog oversight and strict deadlines, said Tess Lengyel, deputy director of policy, public affairs and legislation for the Alameda County Transportation Commission.

Forty-eight percent of the funds would be spent restoring AC Transit service cuts and improving transport for seniors and disabled residents. Thirty percent would pay for major fixes to local arteries such as San Pablo Avenue, Ashby Street, and Solano Avenue.

The “lowest percentage ever” – 9 percent, or $677 million – would go to highway projects, in this case improving access to I-80 from Gilman and Ashby avenues.

Cycling advocates cheered the $651 million that would double the existing sales tax funds for bike and pedestrian accommodations and for the completion of the Bay, East Bay Greenway and Horse trails. 

“We’re ready to finish the Bicycle Plan and this will enable us to do it,” said Dave Campbell, speaking for the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. The numbers of people using pedestrian and bicycle routes “are exploding,” he said, citing statistics that show Berkeley ranks No. 4 in the nation in bike ridership.

In 1986, Alameda County voters passed a half-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects. In 2000, they approved an extension that would extend the tax through 2022 to launch a new set of improvements. The projects encompassed in the first measure have been completed or are underway 10 years ahead of schedule, Lengyel said.

Mayor Tom Bates gave the plan his blessing only after expressing regret that voters would only get one chance to weigh in at the polls, and questioning the wisdom of the 8 percent of the money that “will go to ill advised projects,” including BART to Livermore, which will waste $600 million since the plan will never come to fruition, he said.

As for a $120 million Dumbarton train, “It would be cheaper to buy everybody a Cadillac," he said.

Councilman Gordon Wozniak voiced regrets that the plan does not address one of the worst commute routes in the city: State Route 13, which encompasses Tunnel Road.

 "You’ve got 30,000 commuters a day on two-lane, residential roads,” he said. “Traffic backs up for hours a day in the morning then hours a day in the afternoon.”