Governor Newsom announced nearly $2.5 billion to strengthen transportation infrastructure and advance public transit systems across the state

What you need to know: As the Trump administration pushes to slash federal funding for public transportation infrastructure, Governor Newsom announced nearly $2.5 billion for transportation projects statewide - enhancing connectivity for people who walk and bike, and rebuilding vital routes to increase access for transit users. These investments will support local streets and roads, state highways, public transit, and intercity rail projects, while creating more than 150,000 jobs.

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom today announced nearly $2.5 billion in funding for more than 150 projects to improve state highway systems, advance public transit, and create good-paying jobs. These investments are guided by Governor Newsom's Build More, Faster - For All agenda, delivering critical infrastructure upgrades and creating thousands of jobs across the state.

Through the California Transportation Commission (CTC), this nearly $2.5 billion investment brings the Newsom administration's total transportation allocations for fiscal year 2025-26 to approximately $13.8 billion. These investments support local streets and roads, state highways, active transportation, public transit, and intercity rail projects, and will create more than 150,000 jobs. Since 2019, the Newsom administration has allocated more than $78.4 billion to transportation projects across California, supporting the creation of more than 800,000 jobs.

While Trump guts transportation infrastructure funding across the country, California is busy building the transportation network for the future. Through repairing aging roads and bridges, creating world-class transit and freight systems, expanding public transit, and leading technological innovation - we are ushering in the golden age of transportation. Investments like these drive our economy while creating good-paying jobs across the state.

Governor Gavin Newsom

At the same time, Trump's proposed federal budget cuts funding for public transit and clean transportation programs nationwide. Trump's Fiscal Year 2027 budget request would cut federal public transit funding by roughly 23% and passenger rail funding by about 82%, eliminating billions in planned investments for systems nationwide. According to industry analysis, Trump's budget would also significantly slash funding for key clean transportation programs under President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), resulting in multi-billion dollar losses for modern transit, passenger rail, and decarbonization projects nationwide.

This announcement includes nearly $547 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) and another $736 million from California's Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The remaining $1.1 billion is funded through the State Highway Account, the general fund, and other state and federal programs.

California has been awarded an annual investment of approximately $16.7 billion in infrastructure funding since IIJA's passage. That includes investments to upgrade the state's roads, bridges, rail, public transit, airports, electric vehicle charging networks, ports, and waterways.

The remaining investments are supported by SB 1, which has provided nearly $5.5 billion annually for transportation projects since 2017. SB 1 calls for splitting the money between state and local agencies. Road projects progress through construction phases more quickly, depending on the availability of funds, including those partially funded by SB 1.

"Our transportation team is continuing to prioritize benefits for all Californians with bold infrastructure investments that will connect communities and boost our economy," said California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin. "By advancing Governor Newsom's commitment to build more, faster, these investments will improve safety, support economic growth and strengthen the transportation networks Californians rely on every day."

"Investments made today support the department's mission to build and maintain a transportation system that helps Californians navigate the state safely and efficiently-now and decades into the future," said Caltrans Director Dina El-Tawansy. "This funding translates into projects that enhance accessibility for all users, strengthen resiliency of our vital corridors and create increased transit options across the state."

"Transportation investments are about more than infrastructure; they are investments in people, communities, and opportunity," said California Transportation Commission Chair Clarissa Falcon. "These latest investments will help ensure our transportation system continues to serve the needs of communities throughout California today while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow."

Notable project investments:

• Southwest Los Angeles County mobility hubs - $257 million
  Improves connectivity for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders and highway commuters, including thousands of residents and global visitors traveling to attend major cultural and sporting events ahead of the LA 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

• Whiskey Creek Bridge renovation - $99 million
  Replaces the historic bridge on State Route 299 in Shasta County.

• Interstate 215 revitalization - $64 million
  Rehabilitates pavement and upgrades safety elements on about 9 miles of Interstate 215 in Riverside County.

• State Route 156 interchange - $60 million
  Builds a new interchange at Castroville Boulevard in Monterey County.

• Milpas Street sidewalks and add lighting - $6.7 million
  Creates high-visibility crosswalks along Milpas Street in Santa Barbara, which is considered one of the city's most hazardous.

• Joe Rodota Bike Trail gap fixes -$727,000
  Closes gaps in the bike trail connecting downtown Santa Rosa.

• Marysville Boulevard signal and crossings - $518,000
  Installs signals, bikeways, and enhanced pedestrian crossings in Sacramento.

Trump's infrastructure record: oppose it, freeze it, take credit for it

During his first term, Donald Trump promised infrastructure, including the good-paying jobs that come with it. "Infrastructure Week" became a punchline, repeatedly announced by Trump but never delivered.

Now his administration is trying to rebrand President Biden's infrastructure Law funding under a new name: the "Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development," or BUILD grant program. U.S. Transportation Department's FY 2026 notice of funding opportunity confirms that Biden's infrastructure law funds BUILD grants.

Two days later, Secretary Sean Duffy touted a $25 million BUILD grant for a port expansion in Jeffersonville, Indiana, declaring "we fought to make investments like this happen." What he didn't mention: BUILD's funding comes from the same Biden infrastructure law that the Trump administration has spent months undermining.

Renaming the program is one step in Trump's larger agenda.

First Trump changed the signs

The Federal Railroad Administration quietly rewrote grant agreements to strip the requirement that construction signs credit Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and replace them with red placards with Donald Trump's name. Those signs now hang at:

• A $1.3 billion bridge replacement in Connecticut
• Rail-yard projects in Seattle, Boston, and Philadelphia. The Philly project alone was entirely funded by BIL at $462 million.
• The Frederick Douglass Tunnel connecting Baltimore to Washington, D.C.

This nearly $2.5 billion investment brings the Commission's total transportation allocations for fiscal year 2025-26 to approximately $13.8 billion. These investments support local streets and roads, state highways, active transportation, public transit, and intercity rail projects, and creating more than 150,000 jobs. Since 2019, the Commission has allocated more than $78.4 billion to transportation projects across California, supporting the creation of more than 800,000 jobs.

Then the Trump administration took credit for the trains
For example, in 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took credit for the NextGen Acela's brand new trains, citing them as part of Trump's vision to "Make Travel Great Again."

It was all a lie. Amtrak's own website explains where the train actually came from: $22 billion in funding from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Then the Trump administration celebrated a project they tried to defund
Duffy's U.S. Department of Transportation posted a video hyping construction at the Port of Baltimore's Sparrows Point Container Terminal. Here's what they left out:

• $1.2 billion in private financing
• $176 million in Maryland state money
• $40 million from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
• $0 from the Trump administration

The Trump administration had already tried to rescind an earlier $47 million federal investment in the same project before Maryland's congressional delegation fought to restore it.

Trump stood next to the chip factories President Biden funded
In March 2025, Trump held a White House press event with TSMC's CEO to announce a $100 billion semiconductor investment in Arizona - "the largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history."

What he didn't mention was that it was thanks to President Joe Biden:

• $6.6 billion in grants from President Biden's CHIPS and Science Act
• $5 billion in loans from President Biden's CHIPS and Science Act

Trump called the CHIPS Act "a horrible, horrible thing" the very next day, March 4, in his address to Congress.

Trump froze the money, then took credit for releasing it
The Blatnik Bridge connecting Wisconsin and Minnesota received $1.05 billion in funding from the Biden-Harris administration. President Biden personally announced it in January 2024 in Superior, Wisconsin, alongside elected officials.

The money came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and then when Trump took office, he froze Biden-era grants - holding them in limbo while the bridge continued to age. Minnesota and Wisconsin senators sent a formal joint letter to Secretary Duffy in March 2026, demanding he release the money. He did and then issued a press release taking credit for it.

California's transportation leadership

Under Governor Newsom, California has built one of the most ambitious transportation agendas in the nation. The California State Transportation Agency oversees more than $12 billion in annual transportation funding across eight state agencies - delivering roads, bridges, rail, transit, and zero-emission infrastructure to every corner of the state. The California Transportation Commission allocates an additional $10 billion annually for transportation projects. Caltrans - which designs, builds, and maintains California's transportation system - manages more than 50,000 miles of highway, and recently launched Traffic Mobility Insights, an AI-powered platform that unifies seven statewide traffic systems, refreshes highway bottleneck detection every 25 minutes, and can generate emergency evacuation routes in minutes during wildfires or earthquakes.

California's High-Speed Rail project is advancing daily with 171 miles currently under design and construction from Merced to Bakersfield, more than 80 miles of guideway complete, and 463 miles of the 494-mile San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim system fully environmentally cleared and construction-ready. In February 2026, Governor Newsom announced a major milestone: California is now entering the track-laying phase. The project has created nearly 19,200 good-paying construction jobs, most filled by Central Valley residents, that has generated nearly $25 billion in economic impact statewide, and keeps up to 1,700 workers on high-speed rail construction sites every day.

California is also leading the clean transportation revolution. The state has surpassed 2.5 million cumulative zero-emission vehicle sales, far exceeding its original goal of 1.5 million ZEVs by 2025. Last September, San Bernardino County made history by welcoming the first hydrogen-powered passenger train into revenue service in North America. In May, Governor Newsom launched a $1 billion rebate program for electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and in April 2025, announced $500 million for 1,000 clean school buses statewide. Demand for zero-emission bus and truck incentives has more than doubled year-over-year.

Governor Newsom's Build More, Faster - For All infrastructure agenda has driven historic investments in transportation that will benefit all Californians for decades to come. More than 29,000 California infrastructure projects are tracked at build.ca.gov.