Effort to repeal gas tax hike enters final push for signatures
QEver since the Arab oil embargo of 1973, I have favored raising the gas tax to $2 a gallon. There are many advantages: more funds for road improvements, for effective public transit and fuel-efficient cars plus far lower carbon emissions and dramatically fewer lives lost. I can’t believe anyone is whining about California’s 12-cent a gallon increase in our state gas tax. — Dan Pitt, Palo Alto
AThe Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is trying to put a repeal measure on the November ballot. The group says it needs 200,000 more valid signatures by April 20 to meet the 585,000 required.
QCaltrans and San Mateo County are wrong. There is now wide support for widening Highway 1 in Half Moon Bay, mainly because they have added signalized intersections and are going to add more. The NIMBYs from the side streets whined so much that they had to sit for a couple minutes waiting for a green light that the timing has been altered to trigger signals favoring the side streets. Now many more cars have to wait just to get from Linda Mar to south of Half Moon Bay. Bad for the environment, bad for everyone except those few people on each side street who now complain that once they get onto Highway 1 they’re stuck in traffic. — John Gruver, Moss Beach
ANo local agency is pushing to add more lanes on Highway 1 through here. Until there is, little will be done.
QFor 10 years, there has been talk of adding two or three Capitol trains to Salinas. One option was to replace Caltrain service to Gilroy with the Capitols, as Union Pacific apparently does not want more than the three current daily round trips on its tracks. Do you have more information on this long stalled project? — Dennis Cole, San Martin
ASure do. Design work is almost complete and work on the roads around the Salinas station could be done in four more years. There will be a new access route via Lincoln Avenue, a layover facility as well as track improvements at the Gilroy station. But there’s no timeline for when more trains might be running. Negotiations with Caltrain and the Capitol Corridor are continuing, and the station will accommodate either service. The current scenario features initial weekday service by Caltrain, followed by daily service by the Capitol Corridor.
QWasn’t the San Mateo Bridge a backup nightmare before they widened it and added shoulders? One stalled car would stop traffic and the tow trucks couldn’t get there to clear them. — David J.
AIt’s still nasty, but it was nastier before shoulders were added.