Working for the Kern region

Air Quality projects in the transportation measure

Funding moves up timeline on projects

The Safe Roads Measure "I" expenditure plan contains an ambitious blueprint of roadway corridor improvements designed to keep the regional economy moving over the next 20 years.

About 14 percent of measure funds are planned to be returned to each of the county’s nine subregions for transportation enhancements, transit and air quality projects.

Transportation enhancement funds are to be used for transportation-related capital improvement projects whose intent is to improve the quality of life around transportation infrastructure.

These could include pedestrian and bicycle lanes; landscaping and other scenic beautification; historic transportation facility rehabilitation; abandoned railway corridor preservation; and outdoor advertising control and removal.

Public transportation funds are to be used for transportation-related operational and capital improvement projects for public, senior and social service transportation.

Eligible projects include: rural and urban public transportation improvements; improvements to public transportation services for senior citizens and the disabled; purchasing alternative fuel buses; building alternative fuel fueling stations; operations assistance and intelligent transportation infrastructure projects to improve operations (such as GPS locators on buses.)

Air quality program funds are to be used for transportation-related capital improvement projects.

These can include: traffic management systems; traffic flow improvements and alternative fuel pubic fleet vehicles.

Distributions for transit, air quality and public transportation projects, on an annual basis, are:

Transit projects benefit from measure funding

As the population in California and Kern County continues to increase and age,
the larger number of elderly residents presents a particular problem for a transportation
network that will need to accommodate more people seeking a way to get to medical
appointments and perform other everyday tasks.

Public transportation is expected to become an increasingly important commodity for retiring baby boomers and a growing student population without the personal income to afford a car.

The Safe Roads for Kern Measure "I" sets aside $35 million for Golden Emprire Transit to use on operational costs to help expand its fleet. Another $5 million is planned specifically for senior transit service in the metropolitan Bakersfield area.

In addition to their role as transportation sources for students and the elderly, public transit agencies have been at the forefront of alternative fuel conversion for a cleaner environment. One hundred percent of GET’s bus fleet runs on compressed natural gas now.

Kern COG’s Destination 2030 Regional Transportation Plan suggests public transportation agencies will have a difficult time improving their services under dim fiscal conditions that are not expected to change anytime soon.

Even as rising fuel prices push more people onto buses, operational limitations will keep transit services struggling to meet increasing demand for expanded services. For example, by 2015, Golden Empire Transit (GET) in Bakersfield is facing an operating deficit of between $46 and $78 million.

Kern COG provides agencies such as GET and Kern Regional Transit much of the funding they need for capital expenses like new buses or fueling stations.

The measure will assist with operating expenses, such as hiring and training drivers, that are not eligible for other funding, just as transit ridership is beginning to take off, with more than 20,000 riders in the Kern region each day of the workweek.

Extra funding a breath of fresh air for asthma, allegy sufferers

With the San Joaquin Valley facing some of the worst air pollution in the nation, the extra $20 million to help convert diesel buses to compressed natural gas, or to pave dirt roads would help alleviate some of the air quality concerns.

That’s what the Safe Roads for Kern measure would provide for air quality projects in Bakersfield. In addition, the initiative’s expenditure plan puts an additional $5 million into transportation enhancements like landscaping medians or building more bicycle and pedestrian paths to make the community more walkable and livable.

Air quality consistently ranks at the top of the list of citizen concerns about their region, and with good reason. Poor air quality only exacerbates health conditions like asthma and allergies, which keeps childern from school and employees at home instead of at work.