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"On top of seeing more people on the Monterey Peninsula for the holiday weekend, traffic is going to be especially bad with the ongoing road improvements.But there's more: The state just cut millions in Monterey County's funding, meaning many of those projects are going to take longer to complete.The state cut the the Transportation Agency of Monterey County's budget by $16.1 million for the next five-year cycle. The cuts and delays are going to slow down several big road improvement projects over the next few years.\"What it's done is some of our key projects that are slated to begin have been delayed by two or three years,\" TAMC outreach coordinator Theresa Wright said.Highway 156, Highway 68, Imjin Parkway and Highway 1 in Carmel, the busiest roads in the county for commuters, are now awaiting the promised funding from the state to come through after being delayed.\"Really, what the delays mean is it's just going to take us a little bit longer to get these projects done,\" transportation planner Michael Veller said.The Highway 156 toll road project is being delayed for three years, which means construction of a parallel road to ease traffic concerns is now two to three years out. Improvements to the Corral de Tierra and Highway 68 intersection is now delayed by a year. The widening of Imjin Parkway to four lanes all the way to Reservation Road was delayed for a year.There is some good news. The extension of the outside lane on Highway 1 between Carmel Valley Road and Rio Road is still moving forward, thanks to money set aside by the county.\"The goal is to have relief in sight, but that's long-term, so what you're seeing right now are a lot of short term maintenance projects, but we really have to look at the long-term,\" Wright said.On top of the backlog of road repairs, with the holiday weekend approaching, people can expect to sit in traffic.\"It sort of gets exasperating, because this is a holiday weekend. We all know there's a lot of traffic around here. It's a growing region, and so we see the impacts of that,\" Wright said.Another reason the peninsula could be seeing more construction projects pop up is that it's nearing the end of the fiscal year, so cities are looking to use the funding while it's still available.The budget cuts from the state also mean that the Holman Highway roundabout project will not begin construction until after car week this August.The roundabout is going in at the intersection of Holman highway 68, the Highway 1 ramps and 17 Mile Drive near the entrance to Pebble Beach and the community hospital.The project will take roughly a year to complete."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.ksbw.com/article/state-cuts-funding-for-monterey-county-road-work/1297547>