Measure X is a transportation ballot measure in Contra Costa County that triples funding for bike projects and needs not only your yes vote, but also your volunteer time to gain 2/3’s voter support.
The Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) and all 19 cities and towns in Contra Costa County have approved placing Measure X on the November 8, 2016 ballot.
Measure X is a 30-year, one-half cent transportation sales tax that raises $2.9 billion over 30 years to fund many needed improvements in Contra Costa County, including lots of bike ped improvements.
It has the support of business and labor organizations, senior and disabled transit service providers, and your favorite local bicycle advocacy organization. But it needs more: two-thirds voter support is required on November 8, which means we need your help.
San Francisco Chronicle endorses Measure X.
What you can do
We need help phone banking, doing precinct walks, and spreading the word about Measure X.
- Sign up right now for a volunteer shift in Richmond
- Sign up to do precinct walks with us this weekend in Antioch and San Ramon
- Like our Measure X page on Facebook
- Follow Measure X on Twitter
- Sign up here for email updates about Fall Campaigns for voter approval
- Pick up a lawn sign!
Our Full Slate of Endorsements
We also support Measure RR for BART, Measure KK for Oakland streets, Measure C1 for AC Transit, and more. Bike the Vote 2016 endorsements.
Background
Measure X is a ½ cent, 30-year additional sales tax proposed for Contra Costa County to expire in 2047. If approved by voters on November 8, it will raise $2.87 billion over 30 years for a variety of transportation projects, or roughly an additional $90 million per year.
The current Measure J is a ½ cent sales tax and it expires in 2034. Therefore, if Measure X is approved by voters, there will be offset, overlapping measures, which added together equate a one-cent sales tax. This new proposed Measure X is structured much like Measure BB was in Alameda County. By comparison, Measure BB raises $4.7 billion (in current dollars, $7.8 billion in escalated dollars) and was a 25-year measure expiring in 2042.
Bike East Bay has put a lot of work into the development of the Transportation Expenditure Plan (TEP) of Measure X to build upon current Measure J transportation plan, as we did in 2010-2011 for Measure BB:
- We formed a coalition of like-minded groups to advocate for an environmentally-friendlier plan.
- We served on an Expenditure Plan Advisory Committee for over one year, and attended numerous small group meetings with CCTA staff, elected officials, and key stakeholders to hammer out details of the new TEP plan.
- We met individually with each CCTA Board member to discuss the plan and gain their support for bike funding.
As a result of countless hours of volunteer engagement, the plan triples funding for bike improvements and includes an innovative complete street program that will build four protected bike lane projects on busy arterial streets, one in each area of Contra Costa County. Each project will also include bus transit improvements and smart technology to better manage traffic operations in order to make room for protected bike lanes, and these four innovative projects will be build in the first five years of Measure X, by 2022.
We feel that given the number of stakeholders involved in the process and their varied interests, from roadway widening, new freeway interchanges, improved BART and bus service, fixing potholes, senior and disabled transportation, open space preservation and smart growth, the final plan is pragmatic and good as possible.
