Executive Director’s Column:
Big plan for a big future—
WRCOG’s TUMF Program transcends the current economic slowdown

A slumping housing market. Corporate cut-backs. Pay cuts and furlough days. Rising gas prices. A stock market not for the faint of heart. Emergency economic stimulus packages. Record home foreclosures. The highest unemployment rates seen in years. Last year more people in the United States declared bankruptcy than graduated from college. Make no mistake about it, these are perilous times. Most of us couldn’t wait to see 2009 come to an end. Now, we wait anxiously for things to improve in the short-term, starting with this year.

But what about 10 years from now? 20? 30? Granted, when immediate circumstances and needs are so prevalent, it is hard to think about the long-term future. But the future isn’t very far away. And for Western Riverside County, the long-term future is big. Big population growth is projected (900,000 more by 2035). Big housing growth is expected (400,000 new units by 2035). Big employment growth is anticipated (600,000 more jobs by 2035). And big consequences and challenges, including a heavy impact on the region’s transportation infrastructure from future growth, will present themselves.

Fortunately, leaders in Western Riverside developed a big solution. WRCOG’s Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) Program, implemented in 2003, is designed to keep traffic moving in Western Riverside County in a big way. As the nation’s largest multi-jurisdictional transportation fee program, TUMF will generate more than $4 billion from fees paid by new development throughout WRCOG’s 17 jurisdictions. These fees will be used to build approximately 1,400 new lane miles on Western Riverside County roads. It will improve more than 90 interchanges, build or widen more than 50 bridges, improve 215 intersections, and construct 20 railroad grade separations. Additionally, TUMF will provide $131 million for transit improvements, and $70 million for environmental mitigation and sensitive habitat acquisition. It’s a big long-term Program designed to accommodate a big long-term future.

TUMF is also good for Riverside County’s short-term economy. In the midst of this recent economic slowdown, the TUMF Program creates jobs by pumping more than $200 million in the local economy. These are quality public and private sector jobs related to getting TUMF facilities planned, designed, and built. That’s big news, and there’s plenty more work to be undertaken as 112 TUMF projects are programmed for a total of $570 million to be spent during the next 5 years.

As the administrator of the TUMF program, WRCOG will soon be releasing its 2009 TUMF Annual Report. The Report provides detailed information about the history and status of the Program, including revenues collected, projects completed and programmed, and the latest updates about which projects are in line for construction to occur. Our goal is to provide information that will be helpful in understanding the direction and accomplishments of the TUMF Program. The report will be presented to the WRCOG Executive Committee on April 5, 2010, and will be available to download from WRCOG’s website on April 6. Copies of the report can be obtained by contacting WRCOG offices at (951) 955-7985.

We hope you will find the 2009 TUMF Program Annual Report useful, in a big way.