SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A 12 cents per gallon gas tax is now in effect in California, and KRON4 has more details about some of the Bay Area projects what will happen because of the new source of revenue.
KRON4 has details on how the extra money is going to help our roads and highways.
The gas tax that started Wednesday, and it is not the first one California has had.
There’s been one in place for decades, but it’s outdated.
Since it was put in place, the amount of driving in the state has doubled, but the number of gallons of gas purchased has only gone up by one-third because of more fuel-efficient cars.
“We have all these things we have to take care of, all the wear and tear on our roads and on our bridges, and the gasoline tax money that we’ve been getting just hasn’t been sufficient,” Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus said.
So now, 12 cents added to each gallon of gas, and 20 cents added to each gallon of diesel sold will help generate more than $50 billion in the next 10 years.
“That’s going to be a little bit extra money we spend on it,” Haus said.
The new revenue will be split between state and local projects.
In the Bay Area, it will pay for things like a new auxiliary lane on Highway 87 in the South Bay.
It will fund pavement preservation on I-80 between the Carquinez Bridge and Highway 4, and it will pay for various traffic operating systems that help traffic flow more smoothly.
“One of the major projects here in the Bay Area that will be using some of that gas tax money will be right here at the MacArthur maze, where they’ll actually be raising the heights of some of the overpasses,” Haus said. That’s just one of the things you want to be able to do in changing times…the trucks are a lot taller than they used to be.”
There’s no official start date for that one yet, but the one that’s widening ramps along I-880 started in June.
Caltrans was able to start working earlier than scheduled.
“It’s a few dollars every time you fill up, especially this thing,” Haus said.
There will also be many more projects going on in the next decade that haven’t even been planned yet.
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