Desperate state of state's roads calls for bond funding.

LAST June more than 3 billion gallons of water spilled from a breach in one of Northern California's delta levees, flooding 11,000 acres, causing millions of dollars in damage and necessitating a major disaster declaration from Gov. Schwarzenegger and President Bush.

Last month, a top manager of the Department of Water Resources told Southern California officials that there is a major chance of an earthquake or a flood causing catastrophic failure along our thousands of miles of levee roads over the next 50 years.

Deteriorating levee roads are only one of the many acute and chronic transportation problems we face in California.

A report by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. found that increased congestion will be a major challenge to Southern California ports--currently the gateway for 40 percent of all goods entering the nation.

Inadequate and unsafe transportation infrastructure means people and goods aren't moving in this state the way they should. Senate Bill 1024, the Safe Facilities, Improved Mobility and Clean Air Bond Act, would provide a comprehensive approach to the state's transportation needs--without favoritism toward any region or project.

SB 1024 would present to voters a $7.7 billion general obligation bond to make critical investments in transportation infrastructure.

Among other things, it would repay $2.1 billion taken from Proposition 42 transportation funds to jump-start highway and transit projects and improve streets and roads; invest $2.5 billion in California's sea, air and land port improvements; apply $1 billion to strengthen 1,600 miles of levee roads; use $1.3 billion to complete the toll bridge seismic safety retrofit program; and provide $100 million for such projects as landscaping, trail and park construction.

There are some who mistakenly believe that this bond is a Trojan horse to somehow let Bay Area commuters off the hook for the Bay Bridge. In fact, only 18 percent of the funding from the bond bill is for the bridge. (A companion measure requires tollpayers to pay 53 percent of the cost overruns occurring on the state's watch and any additional overruns that might occur in the future.)

Of the $2.1 billion earmarked for Prop 42 repayment, $1.2 billion goes to Southern California projects--$700 million in Los Angeles County alone.

Clearly, the state's many transportation needs far outstrip available revenues. While our transportation issues--from ports to levees to roadways to transit--are as diverse as the state itself, the reality is we are one California, responsible for helping each other meet these critical needs.

Don Perata is state Senate president pro tem and represents Oakland.