More than 30 street segments in Long Beach could get much needed maintenance in the coming year with the help of $9.2 million in state gas tax funding that could be designated by the City Council Tuesday.
Senate Bill 1 was signed into law in April 2017 with the hopes of investing $54 billion into California’s roadways over the next decade, with half of that money going toward state highways and other assets and the other half to local streets and infrastructure investments.
It raised taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel as well as increasing registration fees for vehicles in the state and was subject of an unsuccessful attempt to overturn it in 2018. At the time, city officials estimated that Long Beach could receive between $10 million and $15 million annually from the tax.
A memo outlining 32 streets in the city, all of which have poor grades on the city’s pavement condition index, could be approved by the council Tuesday and rolled into the city’s larger $34 million capital improvement program for the next fiscal year starting in October.
Long Beach has already received millions from SB-1 with some going to fixing local streets and other planned projects that could improve rail transport capabilities at the Port of Long Beach, purchase zero-emission buses and perform maintenance on the Metro Blue Line, according to state documents.
The city has a variety of funding streams it can use to improve streets, including Measure A, which the city allocated $15 million from this year’s budget to improve arterial streets, curbs, sidewalks and alleys.
In total, the city allocated $41.4 million for street and corridor enhancements this year using a mix of state, county and local funds.
Here are the streets that have been identified to be improved in the next year with SB-1 funding: