Ballot initiatives raise more than $150 billion for county transportation

Counties take infrastructure funding into their own hands at ballot box with bonds and tax increases

When President-elect Donald Trump laid out his administration’s priorities shortly after winning the general election, he stressed the need to rebuild infrastructure. Counties will likely take warmly to that, given that earlier in the evening, results poured in from ballot initiatives and bond issues that raised more than $155.6 billion in projected revenue.

None are quite on the scale of Los Angeles County’s Traffic Improvement Plan, which will increase sales taxes and extend another tax to raise $120 billion. That plan will seek to expand rail and rapid transit and make it more accessible, repave streets, retrofit bridges for earthquakes and improve freeway traffic flow by reducing bottlenecks. Measure M continues a half-cent traffic relief tax and adds an additional half-cent sales tax.

Sacramento County, Calif. voters also approved a half-cent sales tax for transit and road projects. The measure is expected to generate $30 million per year over its 30-year lifespan, with a 70-30 split between road and transit spending from the proceeds.

Stanislaus County’s 25-year half-cent sales tax will likely generate a total of $975 million over its lifetime, after failed attempts to pass what became Measure L in 2006 and 2008. Elsewhere in California, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties’ voters approved $3.5 billion in bonds to repair and update the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.

In three years, Kitsap County, Wash. commuters will be able to get to Seattle via ferry across the Puget Sound from three different locations, thanks to a tax increase of 3 cents on a $10 purchase.

This wasn’t just a West Coast trend. Charleston County, S.C. voters wanted a half-cent sales tax to raise $2.1 billion to widen roads and allocate $600 million to the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority to upgrade its buses and develop a bus rapid transit system.

Maryland’s Prince George’s County will issue $200 million in bonds for transportation and public works, including funding for the Purple Line light rail, which will run to neighboring Montgomery County.

Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia will issue bonds totaling $58.8 million (Arlington) and ($120 million) to pay for their shares of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and for road projects.

Wake County, N.C. voters approved a half-cent sales tax hike to help fund a 10-year, $2.3 billion plan to add commuter rail and increase bus service throughout the county.

Palm Beach County, Fla. voters approved a 10-year penny sales tax on the first $5,000 of purchases, which is expected to raise $810 million for county road and bridge repair, canals, drainage systems, parks and government buildings. Voters in neighboring Broward County rejected a similar measure.

In Nevada, each county voted on increasing its gas tax. Clark County, the state’s largest, saw voters approve an increase that is expected to generate $3 billion over 10 years.