Two letters have recently been sent to the Sacramento Transportation Authority objecting to the inclusion of the Capital Southeast Connector in the potential Measure A sales tax measure.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg sent a letter on March 5 to the board, expressing concerns that the lack of a guarantee that Measure A would meet climate change goals threatens passage of the measure.
Because the middle section of the Capital SouthEast Connector (‘Connector’} is only included in the MTP/SCS as pre-construction prior to 2040, the alignments have not yet been evaluated against the 19% emission targets. The Connector must undergo this rigorous analysis to determine whether the climate targets can be met with the project. I won’t prejudge what the analysis might conclude; however, I am genuinely concerned that without this analysis, the project will move forward despite its impact on our region’s climate. – Mayor Darrell Steinberg
The second letter is from Jennifer Gress on behalf of the California Air Resources Board, and it states even more clearly concerns about the Capital Southeast Connector.
Allocating funding for the Capital Southeast Connector project in the Draft Plan is inconsistent with SACOG’s current MTP/SCS. Putting this project into the current or a future MTP/SCS, along with a land use pattern that is most likely to be built as a result, is likely to jeopardize the region’s ability to meet its regional GHG targets and maintain air quality standards. SACOG and the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District have confirmed this with the STA during its special board meeting last month. The region’s failure to meet its GHG targets can make it ineligible or uncompetitive for critical state funding from various SB 1 and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) grant programs (e.g., Solutions for Congested Corridors, Trade Corridor Enhancement Program, Transit and Intercity Rail Capital, and Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Programs). – California Air Resources Board.
There is a feeling by some on the Sacramento Transportation Authority Board that the measure won’t pass unless the Capital Southeast Connector is included, because the votes from the people who would benefit are necessary for passage. But the Connector has never been about meeting the current transportation needs of voters, it is rather about creating transportation needs by promoting sprawl development on greenfields along the alignment of the freeway. Of course the supporters of the freeway aren’t presenting it as a fully built out freeway, with the huge expense that would entail, gobbling up most of our transportation funds for the next 40 years, but as an incremental improvement, done a little at a time, trying to fly under the radar.
If the Connector ends up in the Transportation Expenditure Plan (TEP), it means that all other projects will then be responsible for mitigating the induced travel GHG impact of the connector. That is not possible unless every single remaining penny is spent on transit.
Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) 