On May 19, 2004, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority adopted the 2004 Update to the Countywide Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Like the 2000 Update, the 2004 Update outlines the Authority’s vision and goals for the future, and the strategies it will use to carry out that vision and goals.

Unlike the 2000 Update, however, the 2004 Update outlines a transportation expenditure plan for a proposed extension of Measure C, the transportation sales tax approved by Contra Costa voters in 1988. Measure C, and the funding for transportation improvements and growth management it now provides, will sunset in 2009. The transportation expenditure plan outlined in the 2004 Update, if approved by the voters in November 2004, will allocate an estimated $2 billion in sales tax revenues over 25 years to a variety of projects and programs to improve the transportation system and manage growth in Contra Costa.

The projects in the transportation expenditure plan range from major highway improvements like the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel and the widening of State Route 4 to bicycle and pedestrian facilities and safe transportation for kids. The transportation expenditure plan includes funding for extending rail transit to East County, HOV facilities along I-680, local and express bus operations and transit for seniors and people with disabilities, and improvements to interchanges and arterials throughout the county. The new expenditure plan would continue to give 18 percent of the revenues to jurisdictions to maintain and improve their local streets and roads, and would add a new Transportation for Livable Communities program that would fund projects that make Contra Costa more bicycle-, pedestrian- and transit-friendly and support affordable housing. Jurisdictions would be eligible for these two programs if they comply with the Measure C Growth Management Program.