Some of the roads commercial drivers use every day are heading to the ballot box. On November 3, 2026, voters in communities across the United States will consider transportation-related ballot measures involving roads, highways, bridges, transit systems, and other infrastructure. Several proposals would provide or continue transportation funding for paving, road construction, congestion-related projects, and safety improvements. The measures take different forms.
South Carolina and Georgia have sales-tax questions. Virginia voters will consider transportation bond proposals. In California, Riverside County voters will decide whether to extend an existing half-cent transportation sales tax beyond its current 2039 expiration. For trucking companies and commercial drivers, the connection is straightforward: many of the projects listed in these measures involve the same highways, streets, bridges, and regional corridors used for freight movement. None of that spending is final yet. The projects and revenue described below remain subject to their respective ballot measures and, in some cases, subsequent project planning and funding decisions.
Road and Highway Funding Heads to Voters in November
In Charleston County, South Carolina, voters will consider continuing the county’s existing half-penny transportation sales tax. Charleston County says the proposed program would continue the tax for transportation infrastructure, public transit, and greenspace and is projected to generate approximately $4.25 billion over 25 years.
Land Line reports that voters will face two transportation questions. One concerns continuation of the tax, while the other would authorize $300 million in bonds backed by sales-tax revenue. Under the proposed funding allocation, roadway infrastructure would receive approximately $2.7 billion, with congestion relief and safety among the considerations for evaluating projects.
Georgia also has several transportation-related questions on local ballots. In Cobb County, voters will consider renewing the county’s one-percent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, for another six-year period. Cobb County confirms that the November ballot will include the renewal referendum and that the program would support transportation improvements among its capital projects. Land Line estimates that the Cobb proposal would provide about $355.5 million for transportation, including road resurfacing.
Transportation Bonds and Road Improvements in Virginia and Georgia
In Spalding County, voters will also see a sales-tax question on November 3. Land Line reports that the proposed six-year tax is estimated to generate about $134 million overall, with a portion of the proceeds planned for roads, streets, and bridges. The county’s election office confirms that the sales-and-use-tax question will appear on the November ballot. Virginia’s transportation measures rely largely on bonds rather than sales taxes. Arlington County voters will consider a $69.745 million Metro and Transportation bond question. County election materials say approximately $46.3 million of the anticipated project costs would support Arlington’s share of WMATA capital work, while about $15 million would go toward paving local streets and roadways. Other funding would support signals, street lighting, and additional transportation projects.
Loudoun County voters will decide whether to authorize up to $280.848 million in transportation bonds. The official ballot lists projects, including the Route 15 Lucketts Bypass, the Route 15/Hogback Mountain Road roundabout, Route 50/Loudoun County Parkway interchange improvements, the Route 7/287 interchange, and other public road and transportation projects.
In Spotsylvania County, voters will consider a separate transportation bond question that would authorize up to $67.627 million. The county proposes using the funding for Route 208/Smith Station Road intersection improvements, widening portions of Route 2 and Route 17, Harrison Road work, rural-road improvements, and other transportation projects.
What Could These Votes Mean for Truck Routes?
For commercial drivers, the measures matter because many of the proposed expenditures involve infrastructure used in everyday freight movement. Road resurfacing can affect pavement conditions. Interchange projects can change how trucks enter and leave major corridors. Road widening, intersection work, bridge investment, and congestion-related improvements can change how traffic moves through a region. But these are still 2026 ballot measures, not completed projects.
Approval would authorize or continue the funding mechanisms described by the jurisdictions. The timing, design, construction schedule, and eventual effect of individual road improvements can depend on later planning, permitting, contracting, available matching funds, and other project-specific decisions.
Riverside County Adds Measure A to the 2026 Transportation Ballot
California has one of the larger transportation-funding questions covered in the 2026 ballot discussion. In November, Riverside County voters will consider renewing Measure A, the countywide half-cent sales tax dedicated to transportation. The current version runs through 2039. The proposed renewal would continue the existing half-cent rate beyond that date rather than increase the current sales-tax rate. RCTC estimates that the renewal would generate approximately $280 million each year for transportation projects and services.
The proposed Riverside County Transportation Improvement Plan divides spending among three broad areas: Local streets and roads, including maintenance and local transportation improvements. Highways and regional corridors, including interstate, state-route, interchange, and regional-road projects. Public transportation, including transit services and facilities. RCTC identifies several major corridors that could receive continued highway funding, including I-10, I-15, I-215, SR-60, SR-71, SR-86, SR-91, and Highway 111. These routes are significant regional corridors for passenger and commercial traffic, but the ballot measure itself does not mean every listed project would be completed immediately.
Measure A Plan Identifies Major Highway and Road Projects
RCTC’s proposed expenditure plan provides a more detailed look at where future transportation infrastructure spending could go. For Western Riverside County, the plan allocates 59% to highways and regional corridors, 29% to local streets and roads, and 12% to public transportation.
The proposed highway list includes several large projects.
- On SR-91, the plan identifies adding one lane in each direction between Pierce Street and I-15. It also identifies additional lanes between SR-241 and SR-71.
- On SR-71, the plan lists one additional lane in each direction between SR-91 and the San Bernardino County line.
- For I-215, projects include additional lanes from SR-60 to the San Bernardino County line and between Eucalyptus Avenue and Nuevo Road.
- On I-15, the plan identifies adding a lane in each direction between El Cerrito Road and the San Diego County line.
- For I-10, the proposed program includes an eastbound lane between the San Bernardino County line and the SR-60/I-10/SR-79 area, along with interchange and corridor improvements around I-10 and SR-60.
The plan also includes possible auxiliary lanes on SR-91, SR-60, I-10, I-15, and I-215, along with active traffic-management technology, interchange improvements, and regional-corridor work. Local-road funding could support pavement maintenance, pothole repair, bridge and railroad-crossing work, intersection improvements, safety projects, and infrastructure related to flooding and other hazards.
Again, these investments remain proposals within the expenditure plan accompanying the ballot measure. Voter approval will determine whether the measure provides the funding, while subsequent planning and implementation will determine how the projects move forward.
Local Transportation Measures Shape the 2026 Ballot
The individual measures are part of a wider national pattern. The Eno Center for Transportation’s 2026 ballot review found that local measures make up much of the transportation ballot activity identified so far, rather than one nationwide transportation-funding question. Eno also found that sales taxes are the most common proposed funding mechanism among the measures it is tracking.
Many communities are asking voters to renew, extend, or adjust existing taxes rather than create an entirely new transportation revenue structure. The way the money would be used differs considerably by jurisdiction. Some proposals concentrate heavily on roads. Others combine roads with transit.Still others include pedestrian projects, trails, safety improvements, or broader public infrastructure. That variation means the phrase transportation tax can describe very different spending plans depending on the local ballot. For voters and transportation businesses reviewing the measures, the details are therefore found in the individual ballot language, project lists, expenditure plans, and local government materials, not simply in the tax or bond amount.
What 2026 Ballot Measures Could Mean for Transportation Funding
The November 2026 election will put billions of dollars in potential transportation funding before voters in multiple U.S. jurisdictions. In Charleston County, the question involves continuation of a half-cent tax projected to generate billions over 25 years. Georgia counties are considering local sales-tax measures that include road, street, bridge, and resurfacing work. Virginia voters will decide transportation bond questions ranging from local paving to major road and interchange construction.
Riverside County’s Measure A renewal would continue an existing transportation sales tax and support local roads, transit, and major highway corridors. The proposals directly affect commercial trucking because they target highways, intersections, bridges, pavement, regional corridors, and other routes that support freight movement. As of September 2026, however, voters have not yet decided these ballot proposals. The November 3, 2026 election results will determine whether the associated taxes, bonds, and funding programs move forward. Where applicable, local agencies would then handle subsequent project planning and implementation.
