Due to its port connectivity and excess of freight companies, West Sacramento encounters a disproportionate amount of truck traffic. The added wear and tear on streets has long concerned city officials becuase there isn’t enough money to repair the roads as frequently as needed.
The city has addressed the funding shortfall through additional development fees, but the fees are insufficient and create other problems, like making the city less competitive against other locales.
Unfortunately, regional road conditions may only worsen under plans to expand the Port of West Sacramento.
One obvious answer is to revisit the formulas that determine highway spending. West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon says the technology exists to allocate road funds based on the degree of vehicle use, but changing the existing formula would produce winners and losers, presenting a political challenge.
“There is broad acknowledgement at the regional level that this needs to be fixed,” says Cabaldon. “But funding formulas are everyone’s bread and butter, and it’s tough when it would mean some jurisdictions would get more and others would get less.”
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