Padilla: USDOT to award $258M to California infrastructure projects

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced yesterday that the U.S. Department of Transportation will award 25 projects a combined $258 million for transportation infrastructure upgrades in California.

The grants will be awarded through three programs funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE); the Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP); and Rural Surface Transportation, according to a press release issued by Padilla's office.

The awards to projects with a rail component will include:
• $35.5 million to Yuba County for a project to extend Plumas Lake Boulevard over State Route 70 using two bridges — one spanning Union Pacific Railroad track and one spanning the Western Pacific Interceptor Canal — to connect easterly to Plumas-Arboga Road. The project will eliminate an existing UP grade crossing on Plumas-Arboga Road. The extension will also serve the proposed location for a new North Valley Rail Stop;
• $25 million to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) for a project to replace the existing train control system with a new moving-block signaling system known as a communications-based train control. BART D-cars will be outfitted with the processor-based controllers, transponders, communication equipment and location sensors; and
• $23 million to the city of Palmdale to construct a grade separation of Rancho Vista Boulevard at both Sierra Highway and the grade crossing of Metrolink and UP tracks. The project will entail construction of a six-lane grade separation (overpass) of Rancho Vista Boulevard at its intersection with the railroad tracks east of Sierra Highway, and will include access ramps to Sierra Highway.

Padilla supported the IIJA’s substantial increase in funding for the RAISE program, which invests in road, rail, transit, and port projects across the country. The RCP — which focuses on improving access to daily needs such as jobs, education, health care, food, nature and recreation — was modeled off the Reconnecting Communities Act that Padilla co-led in 2021. The Rural program supports projects that improve safety, connectivity, and economic growth in rural communities.

A full list of the projects can be found here