Senator Boxer Lauds Progress on Caldecott Tunnel

Standing on an overpass on the Oakland side of the soon-to-be fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer declared that the noisy construction site was “music to my ears…it could just as easily be Beethoven or Bach, or my favorite Stevie Wonder.”

Boxer made her remarks at a press briefing today highlighting progress on the new fourth bore, which will include two westbound lanes and a 10-foot shoulder, in addition to other improvements. Slated for completion in 2013, the $400 million project received a key funding boost of $108 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Without the federal stimulus funds, the project would have likely stalled. “This is a terrific program and I’m so proud the stimulus made this possible,” noted the senator. “We need to do more things like this.”

Senator Boxer took the occasion to advocate for a new bipartisan transportation bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), which she has spearheaded as Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The bill would reauthorize the nation’s transportation programs at current funding levels for two years. It stands in opposition to the House transportation bill, which would cut transportation funding by approximately one-third.

While the Caldecott Tunnel project is fully funded, future projects that promise congestion relief and job creation could be put in jeopardy if the House transportation bill passes, Boxer said. The state of California alone would lose an estimated 61,000 jobs and $1.72 billion dollars under the House transportation bill, according to Boxer.

—Craig Raphael