As Northern California’s only representative on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am committed to making sure the transportation needs of the 10th Congressional District and our neighbors are taken into serious consideration by policymakers in Washington, DC. Transportation projects are among the easiest and most effective opportunities available for policymakers to create jobs and improve the business climate of our country.

According to a recent study, "California’s major urban roadways are the roughest in the nation, costing the average state driver at least $590 annually in extra vehicle operating costs." More than two-thirds of all California roads are rated "poor" or "mediocre", and of the country’s 20 urban metropolitan regions with the worst roads, nine are in California, including San Jose, San Francisco-Oakland, Concord, and Sacramento. By another metric, California has the second-worst road conditions in the country.

Hundreds of thousands of 10th Congressional District residents and workers commute between Bay Area counties daily, and our underfunded highway and rail systems service the ports of Oakland and Richmond, California’s third and fourth most active ports. Four international airports – in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Sacramento – are within 40 miles of the 10th Congressional District.

As your representative on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will use my vote on the committee to prioritize local, state, and national projects that help reduce congestion and bring increased ridership to bus, rail, and other public transportation systems. My immediate local transportation priorities include (in no particular order):

• Approving projects that will create quality jobs in Northern California, especially green jobs;
• Seeing the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore completed on time, reducing congestion on Highway 24;
• Bringing federal transit dollars to reduce congestion at the Cordelia Junction (I-80/I-680/Highway 12);
• Fighting for more federal assistance to widen Highway 4 lanes to Antioch with an eBART footprint and to provide additional capital for the Antioch station;
• Collecting all available funds to expand Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to Livermore;
• Securing stimulus and other federal funds for California’s high speed rail project;
• Offering incentives to expand transit villages and livable communities in the region;
• Working with area agencies to better integrate all regional public transportation, including BART, Capitol Corridor, Altamont Commuter Express, CalTrain, County Connection, WHEELS, Fairfield/Suisun Transit, Solano Express, Tri Delta Transit, WestCAT, AC Transit, Muni, and the forthcoming high speed rail system;
• Promoting the use of rapid bus transit throughout the region; and
• Making bicycling within the district safer and more convenient, including the expansion of the Iron Horse Bike Trail to Livermore.

I have been a passionate advocate for rebuilding California’s transportation infrastructure throughout my three and a half decades in public service.

In 1990, as a California State Senator, I authored the legislation that became the voter-approved Proposition 111. Perhaps the most important transportation proposition in California history, Prop 111 adjusted California budget laws to better serve the state’s transportation needs and brought $18.5 billion to mass transportation and highways in California. For my work on the bill, the League of California Cities named me their Legislator of the Year. To this day, Prop 111 funds help our highways and public transportation networks receive the revenues they need to continue serving Californians transit needs.

In the 1980s as a State Senator, I joined then-Assemblymember Jim Costa (now also a Congressman) to author California’s first legislation to study the feasibility of high speed rail in the state. Our legislation created a commission to begin the development of a high speed train system from San Diego to Sacramento and San Francisco. 18 years later, during the November 2008 election, our work materialized in the voter-approved high speed rail bond on November 2008. I will use my post on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to make sure California’s high speed rail project receives all possible federal assistance.

I will use my decades of experience on transportation issues to be your forceful advocate in Congress. If you have any questions or suggestions, I encourage you to e-mail or call my office.