California reaps reward of extra transportation funds

The federal government rewarded California with a near-record $155 million in transportation funding after the state met all of its 2013 transportation project federal deadlines. New York received the second most at $81 million. The federal pool totaled $1.6 billion.

“This year’s funding increase enables Caltrans (the California Transportation Agency) to build even more projects that create jobs and improve the state’s transportation system,” says Brian Kelly, secretary of the California Transportation Agency.

According to a press release, some states fail each year to spend all of their federal transportation funding before federal deadlines, causing those funds to revert to a federal pool to be redistributed to states that have completed all requirements and can use the additional money.

Caltrans received about $97 million of California’s extra funding. Local transportation agencies in the state received about $58 million.