January 2024
We are exceptionally proud as we move into 2024 of the progress made on the Southeast Connector Expressway over the past several years. Letters, messages, and conversations with many folks already benefitting from that progress encourage us to complete the project as soon as possible.
The Connector is vital to the region. It will reduce greenhouse gases, pollutant emissions, vehicle miles traveled, and regional congestion. When completed, it will provide a pathway for millions of drivers to circumvent central Sacramento traffic.
The expressway’s safer, more modern design will also result in an estimated 40 percent fewer traffic accidents than now occur along the route, and it will provide a much-needed, reliable evacuation route for thousands of residents when floods or wildfires occur.
The finished Connector will generate $1.8 billion of economic output, $770 million worth of new labor income throughout the region, and $80 million in new state and local taxes.
To date, about 6.5 miles of roadway have been completed, and several other portions have been designed and are ready for construction once funding is acquired. Also, 2.5 miles of the project’s crown jewel, an all-weather biking and hiking trail that will ultimately parallel the entire route, are open and being enjoyed.
Over the years, as the largest roadway construction project of its kind in Northern California (California?), the Connector has faced many delays due to lawsuits and other opposition.
When voters approved the project in 2004 as part of a sales tax increase, it was estimated that funding for Connector construction would amount to $118 million. Two decades later, only about 40 percent of those funds have been allocated, due mostly to the economic downturn after the ballot measure passed and a political shift favoring mass transit funding over road construction.
This political shift’s primary premise is that mass transit systems result in fewer vehicles congesting roadways. Ask any Highway 50 commuter how well that is working.
A successful regional transportation solution would create a system that accommodates both mass transit and roadways to effectively provide what the community needs and wants. If the regional community truly embraced more mass transit, then busses and light rail trains would be filled with many more passengers.
Regardless, environmental and anti-growth organizations continue to oppose and have stopped many road projects. Being organized and appearing at public hearings gives their collective voice far more weight than their numbers when compared to the millions of residents and visitors who will benefit from the Connector’s completion.
One of our goals this year is to help our supporters be heard by the officials who influence or decide where government transportation funds are spent. Attendance at public meetings, letter writing, petition circulating, and other activities are all beneficial to the cause.
We are hoping others will follow the lead of Rancho Murieta’s John Merchant, who recently organized 1,500 community members to sign a letter to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, resulting in a decision favorable to the Connector’s construction.
Our aim is to keep this project on course because it will greatly improve transportation in the region and boost the economy while adding safety and convenience for residents and businesses.
While Connector critics might be well practiced at opposing projects, they do not reflect the perspectives of most people living in or near the many communities that will be served by the Connector. Opponents might continue trying to eliminate the project, but they can’t eliminate the need.