Accountability at a glance: California is harnessing the power of the Internet to provide transparency of management on a $3 billion program of transportation improvements

Public Roads, Sept-Oct, 2007 by Richard G. Chavez, Allan Kosup, Bart Desai, Donna Huey

As with most urban areas in the United States, transportation facilities in San Diego, CA, have struggled to keep pace with ever-growing demand. Traffic congestion continues to worsen in the San Diego metropolitan area as increases in motorized travel exceed the available capacity. This trend is expected to intensify over time.

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In 1990, the San Diego region's daily travel demand was 9 million trips involving some form of motorized travel. By 2003, demand had reached 13.5 million daily trips, and by 2030 it is expected to increase to 16 million. These figures are from Mobility 2030, a transportation plan developed by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). The region's planning and transportation agency, SANDAG is responsible for major highway, transit, and other infrastructure projects for 19 local governments.

Recognizing the need to maintain local funding for transportation projects, San Diego voters acted in 2004 to extend TransNet, an existing local sales tax. The tax is used to finance highway, transit, and local road projects that are aimed at reducing traffic congestion in San Diego County.

SANDAG and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), as the trustees of the public's money, have initiated an aggressive effort to design and build several critical highway and transit projects quickly. To update the public regarding these key projects, the agencies developed the TransNet Dashboard, an Internet communications tool that provides real-time online information on such crucial items as project budgets, cost estimates, and schedules.

The Dashboard does more than enable the public to keep tabs on tax dollars. By providing a single platform that SANDAG, Caltrans, and their partners can use to share data, the Dashboard also functions as a sophisticated program management tool.

The TransNet and Early Action Programs

In 1987, voters in San Diego County approved the TransNet Program, a local half-cent sales tax used to fund a variety of transportation projects throughout the county. One of the largest transportation improvement programs in California, TransNet is expected to generate $3.3 billion by 2008 (nominal dollars not adjusted for inflation) and $14 billion (in 2002 dollars) by 2048.

To expedite critical transportation improvements in the county, SANDAG approved in 2005 a $3 billion TransNet-funded Early Action Program. The new program includes 21 highly anticipated highway and transit projects along six major corridors: Interstates 5, 15, and 805; State Routes (S.R.) 52 and 76; and the Midcoast Light Rail Project. All of the projects are scheduled to be completed by 2015.

Key participants in the TransNet Program and Early Action Program include Caltrans, which is a full partner with SANDAG in developing new roadways, widening existing facilities, and providing new transportation infrastructure such as managed high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) toll lanes, reversible lanes, and entry-exit points for bus rapid transit systems. Two providers of transit service in the San Diego area--the Metropolitan Transit System and North County Transit District--also participate in implementing TransNet projects.

Another key organization that is kept apprised of the Early Action Program's status is the Independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee. Mandated by the ordinance extending TransNet, the committee was created to oversee the program's expenditures and ensure that voter mandates are fulfilled. The committee also may make recommendations to improve the program's financial integrity and performance.

Management and Communications

Faced with the scale and scope of the Early Action Program, SANDAG needed an innovative management approach that would enable it to oversee the program's many components while also providing a reliable and efficient method for conveying progress to its many partners and the public. To succeed, SANDAG and its partners needed a system that would provide accountability and promote transparency.

SANDAG "realized the need and the value of program transparency and accountability to all stakeholders," says Jack Boda, SANDAG mobility director. SANDAG accomplished both objectives, he says, "through an innovative, interactive, online reporting tool." The tool, the Dashboard, combines financial information and other project data, and it "allows the public access to transportation progress specifically along routes that they are interested in," Boda notes.

"Asking the public to tax themselves for a specific purpose brings up the obvious question of 'What am I getting for my money?'" says Christine Valle, manager of the Caltrans TransNet Program office. "The Dashboard gives us a method of answering that question on an ongoing basis," Valle says. "In real time the taxpayer and road user can learn the status and cost of the improvements that impact their daily commutes."

Joel Haven, a Caltrans corridor director for the S.R. 52 and I-805 corridors, adds, "The Dashboard was needed to provide open communication about our projects to the Independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee and to the public about what is happening on our corridors." By providing a central location for disseminating this information, the Dashboard provides a "consistent, current message about our corridors," Haven notes.