California Governor Schwarzenegger Applauds Opening of West Approach to the Bay Bridge

04/11/2008 -- Celebrating a milestone for one of the busiest bridges in the nation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today attended the opening for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge West Approach. Cost of the seismic retrofit project is $429 million and it has created thousands of jobs.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger attends opening for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge West Approach: Photo courtesy California Governor's office

"The Bay Bridge is an economic and transportation colossus and we are rebuilding it to make it seismically safe for generations to come," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I could not be more proud of the incredible workers who are making the West Approach of the bridge a reality, a full seven months ahead of schedule. This is exactly the type of skill and cooperation that the people of California expect and deserve from their government."

The West Approach refers to a one-mile stretch of Interstate 80 linking San Francisco to the Bay Bridge. It is delineated by Fifth Street and the San Francisco anchorage on Beale Street. Seis­mic safety work on the West Approach involves completely removing and replacing this one-mile section of freeway in its original footprint, as 280,000 vehicles continue to use the bridge each day.

"Not that long ago, people's eyes would glaze over when they heard the word ‘infrastructure.' Now everyone understands that a state can prosper and soar economically only if it has the roads, bridges, tunnels, transit, ports and other projects that make our daily lives and daily business possible. We have come a long way in just a few short years and we have much more to do," said Governor Schwarzenegger.

As part of the Governor's multi-pronged approach to rebuilding California, he is also calling on the federal government to increase investment in infrastructure. The federal government has historically been the single largest contributor to national infrastructure projects, but its contribution has fallen dramatically over the past two decades.

Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Governor Schwarzenegger to form a new bipartisan, multi-state coalition called, "Building America's Future," to rally support for federal infrastructure investment and put pressure on presidential candidates to increase federal support of infrastructure.

In February, as part of the Governor's trip to Washington, D.C. he called on the federal government to increase infrastructure investment and welcomed 13 more governors from across the nation to the "Building America's Future" coalition.

As part of his State of the State address, the Governor proposed a new set of policies to improve how California builds and finances infrastructure by enabling the broad use of Performance Based Infrastructure (PBI). These proposals include:

* Expanding the types of projects, services and government entities that can enter into PBI arrangements. PBI allows the public and private sectors to work together to deliver infrastructure services at lower cost and risk, while providing improved services for citizens.
* Establishing "PBI California," to enable California to build, operate and maintain infrastructure better, faster and for less. "PBI California" would serve as a center for excellence to help determine which state projects can benefit from PBI, represent the state in negotiations with PBI participants, ensure transparency and monitor performance.

Source: California Governor

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