Throughout 2016 (and most heavily during November), ballot measures and referenda that will raise new revenue for transportation at the local or state level were decided during elections across the country.
As in years past, we kept a close eye on several of the most notable questions decided in 2016, profiling a few at length on the blog in the lead-up to the November elections. Links to T4America summaries of particular measures on the blog, if available, are in a column in the below table.
Read our post-mortem on the 2016 election here: t4america.org/2016/11/10/billions-in-transit-measures-approved-tuesday-unpacking-the-2016-election-results/
Note: We don’t track 100 percent of all transit-related measures — for an overview of all transit-related ballot measures, turn to the Center for Transportation Excellence, the authority on tracking such data. Questions about measures or know of a significant one we should be following that doesn’t appear here? Reach out to Dan Levine on our staff.
Go back to our full hub of state transportation policy and funding resources.
2016 ballot measures for transportation
| Place | State | Outcome & percent | Description | Raises how much? | Funds what? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BART region (San Francisco, Contra Costa, and Alameda Counties) | CA | Approved - 69% yes | Property tax, for 40 years | $3.5 billion | Repairs and maintenance on BART transit: electrical systems, rail replacement, fixing leaking tunnels and upgrading central computer control system | More Info |
| Alameda and Contra Costa Counties (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Approved - 81% yes | Renewal of property tax for 20 years | $30 million/year for 20 years | AC Transit bus operationsand maintenance. | More Info |
| Contra Costa County (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Rejected - 63% yes | 0.5% sales tax increase for 30 years | $2.9 billion over 30 years | Transit, local roads and streets, sustainable communities and complete streets, and congestion reduction through programs to create alternatives to drive-alone trips | More Info |
| Los Angeles County (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Approved - 69% yes | 0.5% sales tax increase, plus continue the existing [Measure R] 0.5% sales tax, set to expire in 2039, in perpetuity | $860 million/year, estimated $100 billion over 40 years | Big expansion of rail, bus transit, 10 highway projects, and bike/ped projects. 17% of funds would go to cities for local street projects. | More Info |
| Sacramento County (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Rejected - 64% yes | 0.5% sales tax for 30 years | $3.6 billion over 30 years | 70% to road projects and 30% to transit. In the first 5 years most funds are directed to maintenance and repair. | More Info |
| San Diego County (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Rejected - 57% yes | 0.5% sales tax increase for 40 years | $18 billion over 40 years | The measure prioritizes completing a list of high-priority freeway and transit projects within 15 years. 42% of new funds will go to transit projects and 24% will be suballocated to cities for local projects. | More Info |
| San Luis Obispo County (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Rejected - 65% yes | 0.5% sales tax increase for 9 years | $25 million/year | Local streets, regionalhighway expansion projects, pedestrian and bicycle projects, and transit | More Info |
| Santa Clara County (San Jose) (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Approved - 80% of pcts reporting | 0.5% sales tax for 30 years | $6.5 billion over 30 years | $1.5 billion for BART phase II; $250 million for bike/ped projects; $2.85 billion for highways; $1.2 billion for local streets; $500 million for transit operations | More Info |
| Ventura County (requires 2/3 to pass) | CA | Rejected - 57% yes | 0.5% sales tax for 30 years | $3.3 billion over 30 years | Local streets, highways, bus improvements and fare subsidies, commuter rail improvements, bicycle and pedestrian projects | More Info |
| Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) | FL | Rejected | 0.5% sales tax | $6 billion over 30 years | All revenue goes to the county for transportation projects. Allows construction of light rail, bus improvements, signal retiming, and road expansion. Tax approved, but accompanying tax required for passage failed. | More Info |
| Atlanta | GA | Approved - 72% yes | 0.5% sales tax for 40 years | $2.5 billion over 40 years | Bus upgrades, streetcar expansion, Beltline transit, MARTA extensions and stations, and/or new BRT lines (options here | More Info |
| Atlanta | GA | Approved - 68% yes | 0.4% sales tax for 5 years | $379 million over 5 years | BeltLine trails, street ans sidewalk improvements and widenings, bike ahre improvements | More Info |
| Fulton County (except city of Atlanta) | GA | Approved - 53% yes | 0.75% sales tax for 5 years | $655 million | Road and highway widening and repair | More Info |
| Statewide | IL | Approved - 79% yes | Creates a lockbox to limit revenues collected on vehicles or roads be used for transportation (including construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, and airports) | n/a | More Info | |
| Indianapolis/Marion County | IN | Approved - 59% | 0.25% income tax increase | $56 million/year | Regional rapid transit network of expanded bus service and bus rapid transit lines. Including the next phase of Red Line. | More Info |
| Statewide | ME | Approved - 61% (with 89% reporting) | $100 million general obligation bond | $100 million | $80 million to road projects, $20 million to "ports, harbors, marine transportation, aviation, freight and passenger railroads, and bicycle and pedestrian trails that preserve public safety or otherwise have demonstrated high transportation economic value" | More Info |
| Southeast Michigan | MI | Rejected - 50.5-49.5% | 1.2 mill property tax ($1.20 per $1,000 of property value) | $4.7 billion over 20 years | Expanded transit, including new bus rapid transit, express bus service, and suburb-to-suburb connections across the Regional Transit Authority district (Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw counties). | More Info |
| Statewide | NJ | Approved | Creates a lockbox dedicating all tax reveneus from fuel to transportation | n/a | ||
| Wake County (Raleigh) | NC | Approved - 52% yes | 0.5% sales tax increase | $1 billion over 10 years | County-wide transit expansion, including several BRT lines, expanded regular and commuter bus service, a new commuter rail line to Durham | More Info |
| Clark County (Las Vegas) | NV | Approved - 56% | Continue a temporaty 10-cent-per-gallon fuel tax and index the rate to future inflation | $3 billion over 10 years | Road expansion and safety projects | More Info |
| Columbus | OH | Approved - 73% | Renewal of a 0.25% local sales tax | Operation of COTA transit. Service expanded once the temporary local tax was approved 10 years ago; this measure will renew that local funding | More Info | |
| Clackamas County | OR | Rejected | 6-cents-per-gallon fuel tax for 7 years | $9 million/year | Road maintenance and safety improvements. Forty percents will be distributed to cities for local streets. | More Info |
| Portland | OR | Approved | 4-year, 10 cent gas tax increase | $64 million | Street paving, safe routes to school, active transportation safety | More Info |
| Charleston County | SC | Approved - 51% | 0.5% sales tax for 25 years | $2.1 billion over 25 years | Highways, green space preservation, the region's first bus rapid transit line and maintenance and improvements to existing bus fleet. | More Info |
| Washington County | UT | Rejected | 0.25% sales tax increase | $5.8 million/year | County roads, city streets, and transit | More Info |
| Sound Transit (metro Seattle) | WA | Approved - 55% | 0.5% sales tax increase; 0.8% vehicle excise tax increase, 0.25 mill property tax increase | up to $27.6 billion over 25 years | Expanded regional light rail, with routes TBD by summer 2016 | More Info |
| Spokane | WA | Approved - 55% | 0.2% sales tax | $20 million/year | The region's first bus rapid transit line and expansion to existing bus service and routes | More Info |
