REP. MIKE LEVIN TAKES FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE BILL TO THE STREET

Local leaders explain spending plans for $1.2 trillion of act

Standing amid a construction zone along Coast Highway in Leucadia on Friday, Rep. Mike Levin and other local politicians described projects that could be funded under the $1.2 trillion federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“I can tell you it was not easy getting the bipartisan infrastructure bill across the finish line, but it was worth it because of the jobs this is going to make,” said Levin, Doceanside.

The law, passed last month, sets aside about $30 billion just for California, where it will fund upgrades to roads, bridges and water systems.

It includes $1 billion for water recycling and $250 million for desalination. Levin’s district extends from Del Mar to Dana Point and includes Carlsbad, where Poseidon Water operates a 50 million gallon per day desalination plant.

The bill will also support construction of a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers. Levin said California already has a high level of adoption of electric vehicles, so he expects the state will be able to expand the infrastructure with federal aid.

Federal money will also be slated to stabilize the bluffs in Encinitas and Solana Beach, and move portions of the coastal Amtrak line inland to avoid potential collapse of the rail line along the bluffs.

The infrastructure bill could also rehabilitate a 1920s-era bridge in Oceanside so it can be used again. The money could also fund studies on how activity at Camp Pendleton and Oceanside Harbor has affected the sand supply to beaches in the city.

“Buccaneer Beach used to be a sand beach, but now it’s all boulders from the impacts from erosion and lack of sand replenishment,” Levin said.

Another priority is filling a missing link in the Coastal Rail Trail, which would complete the trail from San Diego to Oceanside, allowing cyclists or pedestrians to travel from one end of the county to the other without a car, he said.

Roadwork at the site of the press conference was part of the Leucadia Streetscape, a plan to calm traffic and improve the community’s shopping and dining corridor. The project, 15 years in the making, will narrow the road, widen sidewalks and add four roundabouts, a tree canopy and a protected bike lane, Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear said.

Although the current phase is already under construction and won’t benefit from the infrastructure bill, future phases may be eligible for federal funds, speakers said.

“These projects are transformative for communities,” she said. “To have a big infrastructure project like this get off the ground we need federal partners and federal money, because the cost is so high.”

One of the bill’s key objectives is to hasten the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Part of that involves reducing inefficiency on existing roads and freeways, said California Democratic Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, who represents an area that includes Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Camp Pendleton.

For instance, she said, the federal bill could help upgrade the aging interchange between Interstate 15 and state Route 78, where traffic regularly slows to idle speeds. Reducing that congestion would also cut greenhouse gas emissions, she said.

Rep. Mike Levin