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Transportation wins big on Election Day

Twenty-one of 30 transit-related measures win voter approval, three more too close to call.

November 8, 2006
1 min to read


Voters in 13 states approved 21 out of 30 state and local transit-related ballot initiatives on Tuesday, authorizing expenditures approximating $40 billion, with the results of three more ballot measures still pending. In California, voters approved three statewide measures, including a transportation funding protection measure that closes a loophole allowing legislators to divert revenue from a gasoline sales tax to other state needs. Salt Lake County, Utah, voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase that will be used to help fund commuter rail, TRAX and road projects so they can be completed by 2015 instead of 2030. Not every transit measure was so fortunate. In Spokane, Wash., voters defeated two measures that would have allowed for the creation of a funding plan for constructing a light rail system and the purchase of right of way and preliminary design for the project. Three pending ballot measures in Franklin County, Ohio; Corinth, Texas; and Union Gap, Washington were still too close to call. For up-to-date results, visit www.cfte.org/success/2006BallotMeasures.asp#Nov06Elections.

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