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Kern COG briefs Ridgecrest on long-range transportation plan and funding outlook
Summary
Kern Council of Governments staff presented the draft 20-plus-year regional transportation plan (RTP) and outreach results, noting $14 billion in long-term revenues and that subarea residents provided input that would yield ~8.6% of planned expenditures for the subarea; staff said projects increasingly rely on multiple funding sources beyond gas tax.
Raquel Pacheco, regional planner at the Kern Council of Governments (Kern COG), presented the draft regional transportation plan and the accompanying outreach findings during the May 20 Ridgecrest City Council meeting.
Pacheco described a four-year federally required public-engagement process that gathered input from more than 10,500 residents in Kern County and outlined the planning schedule: public review underway, Kern COG board consideration in August and subsequent state and federal review with a target for final approval in December. She told the council that projects in Ridgecrest’s subarea (about 3.8% of the county population) are estimated in the draft to receive about 8.6% of long-term funding and emphasized that modern projects typically use multiple funding sources rather than relying solely on federal gas-tax revenue.
Council members asked how increased electric-vehicle use — and the resulting long-term decline in gas-tax receipts — would affect project funding. Pacheco said the plan anticipates multiple funding streams, coordination with state and federal agencies and pilot efforts by the California Transportation Commission to identify new revenue mechanisms.
Council members asked when comments should be submitted; Pacheco said the public-review period is open and the draft will be returned to the Kern COG board in August; final approvals would follow state and federal review processes, with December as a likely approval timeframe.
The presentation prompted questions about the March widening project for Highway 395, which residents said appears delayed. Pacheco and attendees discussed the short-term federal transportation improvement program as the next step for projects that have identified funding.
