There were four and a half-billion dollars to go around from the bond voters approved in November.  Sacramento Valley projects will get just over 260-million of that.  There’s money to widen Interstate 80 in two spots in the Roseville area, and to widen and straighten out White Rock Road in Eastern Sacramento County.  Highway 50 will get new carpool lanes in two sections:  between Watt Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard – and in El Dorado County.  And Placer County will get the funds to build a highway 65 bypass around the city of Lincoln.

The single largest project approved by the commission is in Los Angeles county:  730 million dollars for a carpool lane on the 405. The project was left out of a first draft spending plan, but city and state officials lobbied hard for it to be included.  

San Diego County will get about 430 million and the San Francisco Bay area is set to receive nearly 1.3 billion. 

That’s compared to the North State – which will get 22 million, and the northern San Joaquin Valley, which will receive 128 million. 

Lawmakers in rural areas have been critical of the pressure the larger cities have put on the commission to include more urban projects.  They say voters statewide approved the multi-billion dollar bond, and rural areas deserve funds to ease gridlock as well.