California Eminent Domain Report

At its meeting last week, the California Transportation Commission allocated $1 billion for local streets, highways and public transit.  This means a significant amount of money will be available for city, county and regional transportation agencies who will submit their projects to Caltrans in the coming months.   You can read Caltrans District 7 Press Release here.

The projects are spread around the state and include some major funding for rail projects as well as the usual highway improvements and also show that money will be coming to several California regions.  You can see a full ...

As reported in Caltrans District 11's press release, there is much good news coming out of California Transportation Commission's meeting last week.  First, thanks to a new state budget that increased transportation funding by $351 million, CTC revised its budget for SHOPP projects to $2.4 billion.

Local projects also received good news with CTC's award of $510 Million to 83 transportation projects around the state.  As reported by Progressive Railroading, several rail projects received significant funding, which will hopefully allow those projects to proceed to ...

On March 20, 2014, the California Transportation Commission allocated $334 Million to 53 projects around the state.  As one Caltrans press release puts it, "Californians will be driving on smoother roads, safer bridges, and enjoying the benefits of enhanced transit."

According to Caltrans' director Malcolm Dougherty:

Every $1 spent on preventive pavement maintenance saves Californians $11 that would have been spent on future pavement repairs.

And we can all hope Caltrans is targeting those dollars in the right places.  Some areas that will be seeing significant funds include:

• $59 ...

The California Transportation Commission allocated $138 million to 32 projects around the state at its January 29th, 2014, meeting.  As Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty put it:

From one end of the state to the other transportation projects are providing good paying jobs while at the same time reducing traffic congestion for the people and businesses in California.

Many of the projects receiving funds are directly aimed at easing commutes.  Some highlights include:

• $8.5 million to Metrolink for its High Speed Readiness Program
• $11.9 million for the Raymond Avenue grade ...

The California Transportation Commission announced this week that it has awarded $359 million to help fund 36 projects in California.  Some of the projects receiving funding include:

• $140 million to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)  to purchase 46 new rail cars that will provide new service from the BART/Caltrain Millbrae Station directly to San Francisco International Airport.
• $15 million to Santa Clara for the US 101 Freeway Performance Initiative.
• $43.8 million for the SR 99/Pelandale Interchange in Modesto.
• $46 million for improvements to I-405 in Orange County

A full list of ...

The California Transportation Commission (CTC) recently announced the award of $878 million to fund 114 transportation projects.  Brian Kelly, the acting Secretary of Business, Transportation & Housing Agency, stated:

This billion-dollar investment helps preserve California’s great infrastructure of the past and put thousands of Californian’s to work building something new.  These investments in preservation and innovation are absolutely critical to California’s economy:  In 2010, traffic congestion caused 95 million hours of delay, wasting fuel and ...

Before a public agency can exercise the power of eminent domain, it must adopt a resolution of necessity making certain findings in support of the taking of property.  The resolution defines the scope of the agency's acquisition, and the agency is typically prevented from contradicting the terms of the resolution in the eminent domain action.

There is a delicate balancing-act in drafting the scope of the taking in the resolution.  If the scope is too narrow, the agency may ultimately need to go back and acquire additional rights or property.  On the other hand, if the scope is too broad, it ...

Today the California Transportation Commission announced the allocation of $101 million to fund 90 state-wide transportation projects.  The CTC's updated project allocation list provides a full breakdown of all the projects.

In reviewing the project list, there appears to be a big push towards going "green":  many of the projects involve improvements such as tree planting, compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, pedestrian and bicycle trails, or acquisition of property for restoration and habitat protection.  There's also a handful of ...