MONTEREY COUNTY — Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) announced that the California Transportation Commission has allocated $19 million in Senate Bill 1 Local Partnership Program competitive project funds to the Imjin Parkway Improvement Project in the City of Marina.
The Marina-Salinas Multimodal Corridor: Imjin Safety and Traffic Flow is a regional Measure X project on Imjin Parkway, from Imjin Road to Reservation Road. It serves as one of the major commute corridors between the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas, ranging at various points in the project limits from 24,000 to 39,000 vehicles traversing the roadway each weekday.
The Improvement Project will widen the Imjin Parkway from Imjin Road to Reservation Road from two to four lanes, construct four roundabouts along the corridor and make transit and pedestrian improvements, along with on-street buffered bike lanes and stormwater treatment areas, retaining and sound walls.
The improvements will benefit commuters who travel through the corridor, as well as those who live along the corridor at CSU Monterey Bay and the neighboring homes in Marina Heights, Sea Haven and Preston Park.
With this allocation, the City of Marina, the lead agency on the project, anticipates construction will begin in summer 2022. Funding for the project includes $2 million in local impact fees, $18 million in Measure X funds, and $19 million in the State Local Partnership Fund for a total of $42.35 million.
When hearing the news about the allocation, TAMC’s Executive Director Todd Muck remarked that this was another successful effort of leveraging Measure X funds.
“Voters’ approval of Measure X in 2016 enabled us to compete for additional funding that is otherwise unavailable to us without having our own local source of transportation funding,” Muck said. “Funding to start construction of the Imjin Parkway Improvement Project next summer wouldn’t have happened without Monterey County voters supporting Measure X.”
Measure X, the 3/8% sales tax approved by voters in November 2016, is anticipated to generate $20 million annually for 30 years for a total of $600 million, with 60% of the money going back to the 12 cities and the County for local road repair and maintenance and the remaining 40% used to fund regional safety and mobility projects.
