Placer County officials plan a public outreach effort to educate voters about the need to fund future roadway projects.
The officials also say they will consider other ways to bridge the funding gap for road projects, including an additional transportation impact fee on new development.
The Placer County Transportation Planning Agency had hoped to place a half-cent sales tax increase on the ballot for 2008, but it backed off last week after surveys showed the measure would not get the needed two-thirds approval from voters.
The planning agency's board voted Dec. 5 to defer placing the measure on the ballot and to use a transportation expenditure plan as a starting point for continued discussions for funding and highway needs.
"We have reached the end of our ability to creatively fund transportation projects with the money that we get from the state and the federal government," said Celia McAdam, agency director.
"So if we are going to deal with our medium- to long-term transportation needs without going to total gridlock, we need to figure out a way to bridge this gap now."
In 2000, the agency's board identified $1.7 billion in transportation needs for the county over 20 years, but only $267 million in assured funding over the same period.
In recent years, the gap has widened and the cost of meeting transportation needs within the county has been estimated at $5.6 billion.
"Construction costs for transportation projects over the last five years have gone up 72 percent," McAdam said. "That does not include the purchasing of land for right-of-ways."
McAdam cited the proposed Lincoln Bypass, which would divert Highway 65 traffic out of downtown Lincoln, as an example of runaway construction costs.
"In 1998, the building of a four-lane Lincoln Bypass was estimated at $50 million," she said. "Today, it would cost $324 million just for a two-lane Lincoln Bypass."
The proposed half-cent tax would have raised more than a billion dollars over 30 years for expansion and maintenance of Placer County roadways and for improved transit.
However, polls from a taxpayers group showed that voter support for a half-cent tax hike had dropped from about 70 percent in 2006 to 58 percent, the transportation planning agency reported.
The tax measure would need 67 percent of the vote for approval.
McAdam indicated that a sales tax increase proposal could be brought back for a future ballot but that major efforts are needed to educate the public about the importance of voting for it.
The board's vote last week calls for a public outreach program and for an annual polling of the public to help guide the transportation funding strategy.
In the meantime, other funding approaches need to be considered, according to an agency staff report.
One possibility is the enactment of a "Tier 2" transportation impact fee on development in new growth areas in unincorporated Placer County and in the cities of Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln.
Such fees would be targeted to assist funding the base-level four-lane Placer Parkway as a major thoroughfare for growth west of Roseville and as a connector route between Highway 65 and Interstate 5.
The Tier 2 fees would be enacted by jurisdictional governing bodies, rather than through a countywide vote, the staff report said.
Call The Bee's Art Campos, (916) 773-2825.
