San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) and its member jurisdictions — all seven cities and the unincorporated areas of San Joaquin County — in Fiscal Year 2021-22 spent a record $58.3 million in Measure K funds on a broad array of transportation projects to improve the quality of life for residents, commuters, and businesses throughout the county.
SJCOG manages Measure K, the half-cent sales tax that raises money for transportation improvements in San Joaquin County. That includes projects to ease traffic congestion, increase active transportation, increase mobility access, provide clean transportation equity projects, enhance traffic safety, and contribute to road and highway improvements. Projects were highlighted in the recently released Moving the Region: 2021-22 Measure K Annual Report.
SJCOG Board Chair Robert Rickman and Executive Director Diane Nguyen wrote a letter for the annual report providing their perspective on the collaboration and coordination needed for SJCOG and its member jurisdictions — San Joaquin County and the cities of Stockton, Lodi, Manteca, Tracy, Ripon, Escalon and Lathrop.
“This all means that every person who lives, works and travels in San Joaquin County directly benefits from Measure K,” Rickman and Nguyen wrote. “Measure K means safer crosswalks to traverse State Route 120 in Escalon, improvements to major State Route 99 interchanges in Lodi and Manteca, local transit in Lodi, Escalon and Ripon, regional transit by the San Joaquin Regional Transit District, street improvements throughout San Joaquin County, and expanded rail transit throughout the region and beyond. These vital projects are completed only through moving the region together.
Through that effort SJCOG and member jurisdictions are steering the region to a future when county residents and goods are transported safely, efficiently and more cleanly than ever before, elevating the quality of life here.
Highlights of the Measure K annual report for the fiscal year:
- Regional impact — SJCOG was formed in 1968 as a joint-powers authority and its regional impact — including managing Measure K — is in fostering intergovernmental coordination in the county and with neighboring jurisdictions, other San Joaquin Valley regional agencies, and various state and federal agencies.
- Roadway maintenance — Road and street repair is a major part of Measure K and in Fiscal Year 2021-22 SJCOG member jurisdictions invested more than $26.8 million in local street repairs. That maintenance work will extend the life of streets and roads throughout San Joaquin County.
- dibs Smart Travel — SJCOG’s dibs program used Measure K funds to provide commuters and others with a variety of services to make it easier and cleaner to get where they needed to be. For the vanpool program alone, SJCOG worked with the San Joaquin Regional Transit District and Commute with Enterprise to add 164 new vanpools in Fiscal Year 2021-22 for a total of 417 total vanpools in San Joaquin County alone, a 30% increase over the previous fiscal year. That resulted in the reduction of 31.5 million vehicle miles and 14,530 vehicles off the road in San Joaquin County. dibs also operated similar programs in Stanislaus and Merced counties in 2021-23.
- Congestion relief — Measure K-backed projects such as the State Route 99/120 Connector Project in Manteca, State Route 99/Turner Road Interchange in Lodi, French Camp Road/Interstate 5 Interchange Improvement Project in Stockton, and San Joaquin County’s Pershing Avenue Improvements are helping to reduce traffic congestion, enhance safety, reduce vehicle emissions, and improve air quality.
- Bike and Ped — There are many Measure K projects throughout San Joaquin County that improve safety and connectivity for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. Projects upgraded intersection safety with Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons, signage and repainted crosswalks. In other locations it also reduced the number of traffic lanes to install bike lanes, wider sidewalks, landscaping and streetscaping to revitalize neighborhoods, and more. Other projects fall under Safe Routes to Schools with safety enhancements near schools.
- Transit — Local transit, regional transit and rail transit received Measure K funding for operational costs and various infrastructure improvements to make public transit an easier and cleaner option for area residents.
- In the future — Measure K funds helped to develop Innovation and spur Future Planning so that people who live, work, shop and travel through San Joaquin County will continue to see improvements for years to come. That included enhancing SJCOG’s ground-breaking, multi-agency mobile ticketing Vamos-EZHub app to make traveling throughout San Joaquin County safer and easier. It also means looking ahead to ease future commutes to the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the Central Valley.
San Joaquin County voters made Measure K possible when they first voted for it 1990. Then in 2006, after having seen the improvements Measure K had provided to that point, nearly 78 percent of them renewed Measure K for 30 more years.
Visit this Measure K webpage to view the digital annual report and a video on Measure K Fiscal Year 2021-22 projects.