Drivers heading into downtown San Diego faced a traffic nightmare Monday morning after two water mains burst Sunday, leaving a section of northbound Interstate 5 under water.
Starting around 11 p.m., all traffic on north I-5 was being diverted to north state Route 163. Crews were working to pump water out of the flooded lanes but no estimates were given as to when the freeway lanes would be driveable.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would fund more than $97 million in major infrastructure projects in San Diego County.
California would get nearly $1 billion for transportation and infrastructure projects statewide, if the measure passes through the Senate and is signed by President Joe Biden.
Good morning.
“This is a game changer,” Gov. Gavin Newsom exulted last week during a news conference. “We are very, very enthusiastic.”
Was he talking about his recent coronavirus vaccination? The latest poll in the recall campaign?
No, he was reveling in news from what has long been California’s sweet spot — infrastructure, baby.
Now that his massive coronavirus relief package is law, President Joe Biden is laying out his next big proposal: A roughly $2 trillion plan for improving the nation’s infrastructure and shifting to greener energy over the next 8 years. He is set to unveil the effort, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, on Wednesday at an event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — the opening move in what’s expected to be a months-long negotiation with Congress.
A Biden initiative expected to pour up to $3 trillion into repairing America’s decrepit infrastructure and funding other programs has sparked a scramble across the nation for the federal funds — with California expecting to reap the biggest piece.
The potential federal bounty opens the door to a list of ambitious projects: electrifying the Burbank-to-Anaheim passenger rail system, straightening the Los Angeles-to-San Diego rail line to cut travel time, and building a 1.3-mile tunnel to extend a passenger line to downtown San Francisco.
Of concern is potentially migrating dioxins from pentachlorophenol, a wood preservative that was used at the mill site before being banned in the mid-1980s. In response, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control has hired an engineering firm to do a new round of testing at the site.
House Democrats on Monday released new details about their $1.5 trillion green infrastructure plan slated to come to a vote as early as next week. The legislation, unveiled Thursday, would funnel hundreds of billions of dollars toward transportation and broadband, along with investments in schools and hospitals, with requirements to reduce emissions and clean up industry woven throughout the bill.
House Democrats plan to release a massive green infrastructure package this week, an aide confirmed to E&E News, ending months of anticipation among transportation and infrastructure advocates.
The long-awaited package, which would include reauthorization of expiring surface transportation provisions, is expected to resemble a framework unveiled in January (Greenwire, Jan. 29).
“Text of the surface bill will be released in the coming days,” a House Democratic aide said in an email to E&E News yesterday. “Like the framework House Democrats released earlier this year, it’s expected a number of items will address climate change and safety, which are focal points.”
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down Southern California in mid-March, squeezing the life out of the region’s economy. But there may be a silver lining.
The pandemic response got people out of their cars.
Traffic and the amount of harmful chemicals in the air have dropped amid coronavirus closures, data shows. Telework isn’t currently part of the city’s Climate Action Plan – but it could become part of updated versions.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
