Sacramento County Transportation Digest

California's public transit agencies are seeking $5 billion over five years to keep buses and trains running, but time is running out in the budget process at the state Capitol. To address criticism, they submitted a new accountability plan.

SacRT is celebrating 50 years of operation while announcing that $350 million has been secured for a light rail upgrade, which includes the purchase of 16 new light rail vehicles.

The city of Folsom is reaching out to the public this month, seeking feedback regarding four potential Folsom Boulevard overcrossing locations.

As the industry invests $40 billion in new US electric car plants, the rapid transformation raises labor and supply chain issues. Automaker Ford says, “we’re all in.”

Elk Grove will be upgrading over 100 traffic signals throughout the city as part of a traffic signal improvement project. All upgrades should be complete by spring 2025.

New state funding could triple the number of Capitol Corridor trips leaving from Roseville each day, making journeys to Sacramento and San Francisco more convenient. The changes could come as soon as 2028.

Asphalt pavement formulated with recycled plastic has successfully survived heavy truck traffic and the atmospheric rivers of the winter of 2022-23 after a section of California State Route 99 flooded in January.

A bipartisan congressional group from Nevada and California is asking the Biden administration to fast-track federal funds for a private company to build a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.

In celebration of Earth Day, Sacramento Regional Transit is offering free rides on April 22. The free rides include bus, light rail and SacRT GO paratransit services during regular operating hours.

The American Jazz, a riverboat that docked for years in San Francisco, is now more local. Citing a dispute in docking fees, the cruise will now start and stop in Sacramento. Previously, Sacramento was the final stop on the week-long cruise before heading back to the Bay Area.

Politicians must contend with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, but they also face demands from leaders of vital health care and transit services for more money to solve their fiscal woes.

Up to 60% of 2030 models and two-thirds of 2032 models sold nationwide would be zero-emissions—less aggressive than California’s mandate.

With the intent of reducing congestion and increasing safety, the city of Elk Grove is starting a $12.6 million project that will upgrade and enhance traffic signals. The improvements are expected to be complete by 2025.

Transit agencies in California are struggling to avoid a “fiscal cliff”—and to persuade riders to return after the COVID pandemic. Advocates and legislators are seeking more state aid, but there are no simple solutions.

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved California rules to phase out diesel-burning trucks, which experts say will kick off the transition to electric trucks in other states. California needed the waiver because its rules are more ambitious than EPA requirements.

The City of Folsom is holding a feasibility study in an effort to consider an overpass that will increase safety on Folsom Boulevard.

Communities with high concentrations of electric cars are affluent, college-educated and at least 75% white and Asian—revealing a barrier to electrifying the state’s entire fleet.

A court ruling that upheld much of a 2020 gig-worker initiative also struck down a part that labor advocates say could lead to legislation for driver unionization.

The latest report from the California High-Speed Rail Authority projects costs for the initial segment at $35 billion, which exceeds secured funding by $10 billion. Other segments are likely to see higher projected costs.

Public transit is a lifeline for low-income Californians, and the key to realizing reduced carbon emissions. But the state’s major public transit agencies are facing myriad issues and are looking to state lawmakers for a solution.

The Folsom Historic District has launched a new ride-share app that allows easy access to the free visitor shuttle service.

The law was prompted by an audit revealing that up to 35,000 parking placards in use were in the names of deceased people.

Sacramento Rapid Transit, which annexed Elk Grove’s transit system last year, meets to discuss bus stop improvement, expansion, other systemwide adjustments. Draft plan to be released perhaps as early as January.

Next fall, tens of thousands more California 4-year-olds will be able to attend class through a phased expansion of the state’s transitional kindergarten program. By fall 2025, all 4-year-olds will be eligible.

Bobbie Singh-Allen, first directly elected Sikh mayor in America, will be sworn in for her second term as mayor of Elk Grove. She says upcoming tasks includes a new train station, improvements in Old Town, public safety, and affordable housing.

Reviver, a tech company founded by Black entrepreneur Neville Boston and based in Granite Bay, is the creator of the world’s first digital license plate. About 10,000 California drivers bought digital plates during the pilot program.

The trains, built at the Siemens Mobility plant in Sacramento, will allow 70 passengers per car, plus larger spaces for bicycles. All are ADA compliant.

California cities have some of the worst drivers, according to QuoteWizard by LendingTree, an online insurance service. The annual report looked at 2022 data on insurance quotes and ranked cities based on number of speeding tickets, driving citations, accidents and DUIs.

Four of the deadliest stretches of road in California are in Northern California, according to a study by the website MoneyGeek. The report, which analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, includes stretches of freeway in San Jose, Berkeley, Richmond and Sacramento.

Checking for obstacles to foot and bike traffic, a group conducted a walk audit of an area of downtown Galt on Sept. 10. Joining the walk audit, also called an active transportation audit, were organizer Gilbert Valencia and representatives from Sacramento nonprofit Civic Thread.

Elk Grove is moving closer to having its own passenger train station, according to a new city report. Construction on the $42 million station, part of a project to provide passenger rail service between Sacramento and Stockton, is set to begin next year.

Of the Californians who have taken the written exam to get a driver’s license over the past two decades, more than half have failed. The annual rate, however, has been inconsistent.