A Letter from SJCOG Board Chair and Executive Director

Measure K builds Pathways to Progress and a bright future

Measure K is a visionary and transformative way of improving transportation and transit in San Joaquin County that also put the region ahead of the curve decades ago.

First approved in 1990 and renewed in 2006, the Measure K half-cent sales tax administered by the San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) for transportation projects in San Joaquin County gives the region the power to build prosperous Pathways to Progress.

And those pathways come in many forms for SJCOG’s member jurisdictions – Escalon, Lathrop, Lodi, Manteca, Ripon, San Joaquin County, Stockton and Tracy.

In Escalon, Measure K is helping the city realize its pathway by replacing streets, sidewalks and ADA ramps after as the city replaces aging and insufficient waterpipes in several older neighborhoods.

One of Lathrop’s pathways involves improving mobility by building bike lanes and other amenities to the Lathrop/Manteca Altamont Corridor Express station.

A major gateway to Lodi received a makeover as part of State Route 99/Turner Road Interchange improvements that also greatly improved safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, while also diverting traffic through a residential neighborhood to a more direct route.

Manteca’s new State Route 120/McKinley Road Interchange will serve an expected increase in traffic to and from the city’s Entertainment District and a planned development.

Ripon’s Measure K Pathways to Progress includes the recently completed Fleet Maintenance Facility that will help the city better maintain its fleet, including its Blosom Express buses.

For the first time in its history, SJCOG is leading a construction project – the State Route 99/120 Connector project. Once completed, it will improve safety, ease traffic congestion, enhance mobility and goods movement, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions for better air quality.

The San Joaquin County’s Measure K Pathway to Progress includes the Duncan Road and Comstock Road Roundabout to improve safety at the rural intersection.

One Measure K Pathways to Progress goes over the Altamont Pass. Measure K funds operations, equipment, capital projects and more for the Altamont Corridor Express so San Joaquin County residents can travel to jobs, entertainment, recreation and more in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The San Joaquin Regional Transit District – as well as transit agencies in the cities of Escalon, Lodi and Ripon – receives funds for operating services and replacing buses.

Tracy’s Pathways to Progress includes funding for the I-580 and International Parkway/Patterson Plass Road. The project will use the innovative diverging diamond interchange design first used in California just down the road in Manteca.

And as we move into Fiscal Year 2024-25, there will be Pathways to Progress for Mountain House, California’s newest city and the newest jurisdiction to join SJCOG.

The power behind the Measure K half-cent sales tax has always been the strong collaboration of the cities and county, and the unwavering support of county voters. Together we are building those prosperous Pathways to Progress.