California's gas taxes keep climbing. Highway performance doesn't.

"Each gas tax increase asks Californians to pay more for a highway system that continues to underperform."

Reason Foundation.   

California’s Interstate pavement is also rough, ranking among the worst: 48th out of 50 urban pavement conditions and 47th in rural pavement conditions. 

"Californians already pay the nation’s highest fuel tax. On July 1, the state fuel tax rose again, by another 2.2 cents to 63.4 cents per gallon under a state law’s annual inflation adjustment.

"Inflation raises the costs of asphalt, steel, and labor, so a modest yearly adjustment to maintain and build roads and bridges is reasonable, in theory. Unfortunately, drivers aren’t getting their money’s worth in California. Despite annual increases in the state fuel tax, California’s highways are getting worse, not better.

"In California, roughly $1.15 of every gallon of fuel purchased goes to federal and state taxes, generating more than $14 billion for transportation in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. This is far more revenue than second-place Texas collects, even though it has a larger state highway network, and should be enough to maintain roads and bridges properly.

"Instead, California has the nation’s second-worst-performing, least cost-effective highway system, according to Reason Foundation’s 29th Annual Highway Report, which compares spending, pavement quality, road safety and other measures across all 50 states. California ranks 49th in overall highway performance and cost-effectiveness, only ahead of Alaska, which faces numerous weather and geographic challenges." . . . More...