California May Do Away With Speed Limits For Certain Lanes Of Interstate 5 And Highway 99

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - California may do away with speed limits for certain lanes on I-5 and Highway 99, in order to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Senator John Moorlach (R- Orange County) introduced SB 319 on Friday. If it passes, it would require the Department of Transportation to built two additional traffic lanes on northbound and southbound Interstate 5 and State Route 99. Those new lanes would have no maximum speed limit. The other lanes of traffic would still ban drivers from going more than 65 miles per hour.

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According to the bill language, traffic congestion causes the vehicle to idle longer and that leads to more greenhouse gas emissions.

California did pass the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 which requires the State Air Resources Board to monitor and regulate the source of greenhouse gas emissions. As for the money used to operate the program, "Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available for appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law continuously appropriates 35% of the annual proceeds of the fund for transit, affordable housing, and sustainable communities programs and 25% of the annual proceeds of the fund for certain components of a specified high-speed rail project."

The High-Speed Rail is expected to be completed in 2033; however, Governor Gavin Newsom said in last week's State of the State that the focus would initially be on a street of high-speed rail from Bakersfield to Merced. SB 319 aims to give drivers in California access to high-speed transportation in the absence of high-speed rail.

The cost of building two additional traffic lanes on I-5 and Hwy. 99 isn't known yet.

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