Forty-eight San Joaquin County transportation leaders, elected officials, and regional advocates are in Washington, D.C. for a trip from April 15 through 19 to meet with key leaders in the Administration and Congress about specific policy issues and projects important to this region. The delegates are part of the annual San Joaquin One Voice effort coordinated by the San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG), which serves as the metropolitan planning organization for San Joaquin County.
The trip will include meetings with Congressmen Jeff Denham and Jerry McNerney, who represent the San Joaquin County region; Senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein; high-ranking officials at Economic Development Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, the Committee on Highways and Transit, and Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; as well as other congressional representatives and officials from the White House Intergovernmental Affairs and Build America Bureau. Elected federal representatives view this trip positively as a means of helping them to prioritize and shepherd needed projects and policies through the federal process.
“The importance of San Joaquin One Voice cannot be overstated. In the 18 years we have been making this trip, we have brought back nearly $134 million to our region for vital infrastructure projects and critical programs such as Neighborhood Stabilization,” said San Joaquin County Supervisor and SJCOG Board Chair Kathy Miller.
The regional priorities for 2018 include: rolling stock for ACE expansion; Washington Street widening at the Port of Stockton, SR 99/120 Connector improvements in Manteca, improvements to Grant Line Road, and interchange and parkway improvements at the International Park of Commerce in Tracy. Other project requests include a multi-modal station in Ripon and several roadway/interchange improvements in Stockton, Manteca, Lathrop, Lodi, and Tracy. The participant list and full project listings are available on the SJCOG website at: www.sjcog.org/onevoice.
The San Joaquin Council of Governments is a joint powers authority comprised of the County of San Joaquin and the cities of Stockton, Lodi, Manteca, Tracy, Ripon, Escalon, and Lathrop. The agency serves as the regional transportation planning agency, the habitat conservation program, and a technical resource for its local jurisdictions. As the local transportation authority, SJCOG oversees Measure K, the local half-cent transportation sales tax for San Joaquin County.
