LaMalfa, California Republicans Urge Secretary Duffy to Redirect High-Speed Rail Funds to Highway Projects

Washington, D.C.—Today, Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) along with members of the California Republican delegation sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urging that the $4 billion recently recovered from the failed California High-Speed Rail project be redirected to long-overdue highway improvements across the state.

The letter outlines key projects for the federal funding, including expansion and repairs to State Route 99, Interstates 5 and 395, State Routes 65 and 70 as well as others.  Some key features highlighted in the letter are improvements requested near San Louis Reservoir and Lake Shasta to allow for both reservoirs to be expanded, as well as the Marysville bypass.

“California drivers have been stuck in traffic on worn-out, undersized highways while billions were wasted on this boondoggle,” said Rep. LaMalfa. “It’s decades behind and over $100 billion short. Finally, this is an opportunity to get serious about upgrading our highways and make improvements that also clear the way to build additional water storage capacity. Instead, we should be clearing bottlenecks, moving freight, and getting people where they need to go. The federal government took this money back from a failing, worthless project, and now we can use that money in a way that truly helps Californians. These projects have been put off for too long. We need real infrastructure that real people can use.”

A full copy of the letter can be found here.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa is Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus and a lifelong farmer representing California’s First Congressional District, including Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba Counties.

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