By Patrick McGreevy : latimes – excerpt

Reporting from Sacramento —

Two years after state lawmakers boosted the gas tax with a promise to improve California streets, some cities have raised the ire of drivers by spending millions of the new dollars on “road diet” projects that reduce the number and size of lanes for motor vehicles.

Projects have touched off a debate as taxpayer advocates and motorists complain that the higher gas taxes they are paying for smoother trips will actually fund projects that increase traffic congestion.

Cities counter that they are making the roads safer by slowing traffic and that motorists benefit by being separated from cyclists and scooter users in the bike lanes.

Gas tax money can legally go to such projects, but that does not mean it should, said David Wolfe, legislative director for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., which opposed the original gas tax increase and supported an unsuccessful statewide ballot measure last year to repeal it. It has since continued to watch and criticize how state and local governments are spending the money.

“When Proposition 6 was on the ballot, all voters heard was money would go to road repair and maintenance,” Wolfe said. “They want roads to be repaired. They don’t want roads to be taken away with their taxpayer dollars.”

Senate Bill 1, the legislation that increased the gas tax, includes $100 million in gas tax money annually designated for bicycle and pedestrian projects, which are key elements of many road diets.

The bulk of SB 1 money, $2.27 billion in the first year, went to state projects to repair and maintain roads, while $750 million annually was set aside for public transportation capital projects and operating expenses…

In Los Angeles, residents have sued the city over its decision to reduce the number of traffic lanes on a stretch of Venice Boulevard in Mar Vista to make space for a protected bicycle lane.

That project, funded before SB 1 was approved, was part of a larger plan that eliminated some nine miles of Westside traffic lanes in Mar Vista and Playa del Rey. Residents took the city to court, and some of the road diets were reversed.

“It’s creating gridlock on Venice Boulevard, which is then causing cut-through traffic into our neighborhoods,” said Selena Inouye, board president of the Westside Los Angeles Neighbors Network, a group formed in response to the project….

Inouye, a retired social worker, said having motorists pay higher gas taxes so the money can be used to reduce the capacity of roads is contradictory…

State officials who oversee the spending of gas tax money say public safety was a key priority of SB 1 when it was debated and approved by the Legislature in April 2017. The measure is bringing in more than $5 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and expanded mass transit in the state.

The bill raised the state gas tax by 12 cents a gallon that year and provides a 5.6-cent increase this July 1…

Part of the current debate is whether road diets improve the flow of traffic…

Snyder, of the bicycle coalition, said the protected bike lanes are helping the economy by making business districts safer for pedestrians and bicyclists…(more)