A visit by the commission to an area like Amador County is a rare event. The two day meeting was centered around an invitation that the county extended to the Commission to attend the ribbon cutting for the new hwy 49 bypass which occurred Thursday at 2pm. Members of the commission wanted to be on hand for the ceremony and accepted the invitation. The California Transportation Commission is in charge of allocating billions of dollars in funds to transportation projects around the state and according to Field “Amador County is a friend to the commission, although benefits of the visit will not be immediately apparent- the commission now has a better understanding of local budget shortfalls for state highway projects and our local funding crisis for roads”.

Local staff was able to make about a 45 minute presentation to the Commission on local needs and concerns. The presentations were made by Field and Amador County Public Works Chief Larry Peterson. According to Field Amador County has used its allocation of state transportation funds for about the next 10-20 years on the Hwy 49 Bypass project, although the county has several projects in the que that are being readied to get in the state funding allocation line, so to speak, including potential Bypasses for Ione, Jackson and Pine Grove.