A Gas Tax or Gr-r-r-ridlock? : Prop. 111 Would Relieve Congestion, Improve Freeways

Some backers of Proposition 111 on the June 5 ballot fear that the gas-tax plan is so complex that voters may just decide to vote against it rather than take a chance on something they find confusing. That’s all wrong. The effect of the proposition could not be simpler. A yes vote will gradually increase the state gasoline tax and finance a transportation system than can carry California into the future. A no vote would doom an incr- edibly wealthy nation-state of 29 million people to more years of gridlock.

Consider just one example: Defeat of Proposition 111 would delay indefinitely the long-planned widening of Interstate 5, the Santa Ana Freeway, between the Garden Grove Freeway (22) and the Costa Mesa Freeway (55) in Orange County. The aging Santa Ana would just deteriorate more. The ultimate cost of the project would escalate because of inflated prices of materiel and land. Traffic, of course, would continue to choke itself to a virtual standstill. Imagine similar conditions on the Ventura, the Riverside and the Harbor freeways.

Highway congestion is getting worse by an estimated 15% a year in the Los Angeles area. Without Proposition 111, additional crowding is expected to add as much as an hour a day to the average work commute during the decade. Rush-hour speed on the worst Los Angeles freeways could be down to 7 m.p.h. That’s “speed”? Without Proposition 111, about all that can be expected is a valiant effort to keep maintenance at present levels. And that’s not saying much. The condition of two-thirds of existing California highways is only “fair” ranging down to “very poor.”

Some anti-taxers have made a fuss about the doubling of the state gasoline tax. But at 9 cents per gallon, the levy now is virtually the lowest in the nation. California’s per capita spending on roads is dead last. Washington state just voted to hike its gas tax to 22 cents. The boost to 18 cents in California would be stretched out over five years, bringing in a total of $18.5 billion for a variety of highway projects and other transportation measures that are vitally needed to ease the freeway burden.

Even at the full tax rate, the fuel bill of the motorist who drives 15,000 miles a year and averages 20 m.p.g. would increase by only a little more than $100. Right now, the average motorist loses $1,200 a year from delays, extra fuel and repairs to his vehicle as a result of the deplorable state of the roads.

The Proposition 111 gasoline-tax increase is a modest investment that will pay dividends to every Californian for decades to come.