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San Diego County, CA June 6, 2006 Election
Smart Voter

Traffic Congestion

By Scott D. Packard

Candidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 74; Republican Party

This information is provided by the candidate
Like many of you, I regularly have to drive on our freeways in the middle of "rush hour" traffic. There are few things more irritating than wasting time and money sitting in a parking lot which we call our freeway system. Recently, I notice the 56 bypass was opened where the 5 and the 805 meet+and an amzing thing happened. During "rush hour" time the traffic on the north bound 5 continued to move along at a very good pace. In fact, there was not a back up until I got to Del Mar Heights Road. That is approximately 3 miles of congestion and possibly 20-40 minutes of time saved because of the opening of the 56 bypass.

My point in sharing this personal experience is to emphasize the point that congestion should not be viewed as an inevitable occurrence. I realize that congestion and Southern California go hand in hand like a hot dog and a good Padre game, however with good planning much of the congestion we experience can be reduced or even eliminated.

Heaven knows we should do something about traffic congestion. It is estimated California loses one million gallons of gas each day because of congestion which costs Californians $5.9 million per day+completely wasted! Not only is money lost idling on our freeways, but the cost of doing business increases as salaries, gas prices, and lost productive hours are passed along to consumers like you and me in higher prices. Freeway congestion is not only frustrating, but it saps money from our economy and puts a real strain on the already limited time we have with our families.

Governor Schwarzenegger has a comprehensive Strategic Growth Plan aimed at reducing our congestion by 18%. If nothing is done, projections show our freeways clogging at an increase of 35%. We cannot sit idly by and watch a bad situation get worse. That is why I support Governor Schwarzenegger's plan. However, we need an assemblyman who will make sure that North San Diego County receives its fair share of the congestion relief pie. In the past, it has been common for monies to be diverted from the transportation trust funds and used for purposes other than our roads both on State and Federal levels. Two million dollars of transportation funds due to San Diego were recently "borrowed" to help our troubled California economy. It is imperative that monies collected from Federal and State gas taxes and that the ½ cent county tax, which was overwhelmingly passed, all be used on transportation services.

Congestion is a problem that affects each one of us. It is a problem that can be solved!! It will take good planning and then a resolve to follow the plan. I have helped develop a master plan for the City of Vista, and I know that a master plan is not much good if it is not followed carefully. My commitment is to help Sacramento pass and adhere to the Governor's plan to relieve congestion, and to make sure North County gets more than just a trickle of funds. I am also committed to getting back borrowed funds in addition to what we are currently due. I am committed to making North County congestion free.

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ca/state Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 12, 2006 16:20
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