Freeway Projects Hinge on Gas Tax Increase, Caltrans Says

San Diego County would receive $225.7 million in overdue highway and transportation money if voters pass a proposed 9-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase this June, according to the California Department of Transportation.

The gasoline tax, being touted by Gov. George Deukmejian and some legislative and business leaders, would be used to pay for a $55-million interchange at Interstate 5 and the proposed California 56 in North County, as well as to buy a $45-million tract along 40th Street in University Heights to complete a leg of Interstate 15.

Those and other major transportation projects included in the state’s five-year transportation plan were to be funded with general tax money, said Lisa Covington, a Caltrans spokeswoman.

But, in December, money started running out and now there is a $3.5-billion shortfall, forcing the state to hold off on construction statewide until more money is found. Existing freeway construction is being financed with money allocated by the state before transportation funds dried up, Covington said.

She said the shortfall has nothing to do with state funds used for freeway repairs after the San Francisco earthquake. Money for that reconstruction came from a special quarter-cent sales tax approved by the Legislature in an emergency session last November, Covington said.

She said the gas tax measure, if passed, would provide money for the projects next in line. “It’s the source of revenue that’s on the horizon,” she said.

“We’re not saying, ‘Pass the gas tax or you won’t get these projects,’ ” she added. “We’re saying that, without additional revenue, these projects are threatened with delay.”

The gasoline tax proposal is embodied in Proposition 111. If approved by voters in June, the gas tax would increase by a nickel on Aug. 1, followed by a penny increase each Jan. 1 for four years.

Besides the I-5 interchanges and land purchase along 40th street, other county uses of the proposed gas tax include:

* $22 million as the state’s share in creating a four-lane freeway on California 76 between I-5 and El Camino Real.

* $21 million to widen and fix California 78 from College to San Marcos.

* $6 million to widen bridges, put in median barriers and build park-and-ride lots on I-5, I-15 and California 163.

* $11.7 million to upgrade six lanes on I-15 from Oceanview Boulevard to California 94.

* $20 million to build truck lanes on various freeways.

* $8 million to build a traffic operations center.

Besides the $225.7 million for projects, the gas tax windfall, if sufficient, would be used to pay for another $603 million in construction in San Diego County, Caltrans says. Proposed uses include $76 million for construction of interchanges at I-5, Interstate 805 and California 78, and construction of high-occupancy lanes from Del Mar Heights to California 78, a project that is estimated to cost $64 million.