Stop signs have been installed on Barstow Avenue near Bond Street in hopes of improving pedestrian safety near Hoover High in northeast Fresno. Stop lights have been installed, too, but not yet been activated.
BRYANT-JON ANTEOLA
banteola@fresnobee.com
Fresno County voters may see two competing transportation tax measures on their November ballot.
A second signature-gathering effort aims to place a renewal of Measure C on the ballot, pitting a proposal backed by Mayor Jerry Dyer and transportation advocates against one supported by County Supervisor Chair Garry Bredefeld.
The Fix Our Roads campaign, announced Tuesday, is led by a group of elected officials, labor representatives and transportation experts who are challenging another initiative backed by a separate coalition of mayors, city councilmembers and advocates called Moving Forward Together.
The Fix Our Roads measure has some noticeable differences from Moving Forward Together: it’s a 20-year plan instead of a 30-year plan, and more of the funds would be allocated to fixing and building local roads.
“Every elected official representing a municipality in Fresno County will tell you unequivocally that we absolutely need a roads measure to fund the infrastructure needs of our communities and region,” Clovis Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce said in support of Fix Our Roads. “That is across the board, urban to rural, Republican to Democrat, everyone. But, we need a road measure that can pass at the ballot box.”
Fresno County taxpayers have paid billions in dedicated sales taxes — 0.5 cents on every purchase — for the past 40 years through Measure C to pay for county transportation. It was first passed by voters in 1986, renewed in 2006, and is set to expire in 2027.
With a looming expiration date, leaders across the county have been debating the best move forward for years. The last formal effort to renew Measure C failed in 2022, which critics say focused too much on regional highways and was created with little public input.
The Moving Forward Together coalition filed a notice of intention to gather voters’ signatures to qualify a renewal of Measure C on the November 2026 ballot in late January. The group must gather 22,000 valid signatures from Fresno County voters to qualify the measure for the ballot.
A coalition of community leaders and groups from across Fresno County has filed a notice of intention to gather signatures from voters to qualify a transportation improvement measure on the November 2026 ballot. Provided by Catalano Fenske and Associates, LLC
The Moving Forward Together plan would deliver an estimated $7.4 billion over 30 years, with 65% of the funds going into local streets and 25% into public transportation. Those percentages match a plan that a county steering committee and a majority of Fresno County mayors, including Jerry Dyer, gave their blessing to last year.
“Not everyone drives a car, not everyone rides the bus, not everyone has kids that need to get to school safely, not everyone lives in my city or yours, but everyone cares about the success of Fresno County,” Clovis City Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck said in a Transportation For All press release. “The more successful Fresno County is, the more successful all of our cities will be, and this proposed funding allocation and plan reflects that shared reality and responsibility.”
However, not everyone agreed with the funding plan, including Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, along with the mayors of Selma, Reedley and Kingsburg.
Bredefeld said not enough of the funds from the Moving Forward Together proposal are dedicated to fixing local roads, and too much funding is allocated to public transportation.
“Transportation for All’s measure is really a public transportation tax disguised to fool the public and force them out of their cars and to ride buses and bicycles,” he said in an email.
Ballot initiatives by citizen groups require over 50% of the vote to pass, while government-backed initiatives need two-thirds of the vote.
Bredefeld directed county staff to conduct a legal analysis, including the possibility of litigation against the Transportation For All plan.
Fix Our Roads: A competing ballot measure to succeed Measure C
The second effort to replace Measure C, Fix Our Roads, was announced Tuesday to compete with the Moving Forward Together plan on the November ballot.
Representatives from around the county, including Clovis Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce, former Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea and Reedley Mayor Matthew Tuttle, gathered at a press briefing in support of the alternative plan.
It’s a 20-year plan instead of 30, delivering an estimated $3.9 billion with 82% of funds dedicated to fixing local roads and 18% to maintaining public transit.
Bredefeld is in support of the Fix Our Roads initiative over Moving Forward Together.
“The Fix Our Roads Initiative (20 year tax measure) is clearly focused on fixing neighborhood and locals roads by committing 82% of all collected tax dollars towards that effort rather than the extreme radical group, Transportation For All Initiative (30 year tax measure), which commits less than 65% and requires 120 miles of bike lanes which will destroy city streets and won’t allow widening of any roads except for bike and bus lanes,” Bredefeld said over email.
How will the funds be used in each plan?
The Fix Our Roads $3.9 billion 20-year plan:
82% to local roads, including:18% to public transportation, including:
The Moving Forward Together $7.4 billion 30-year plan:
65% to existing neighborhood roads.25% to public transportation.5% to regional connectivity.4% to access and innovation.1% to administration and oversight.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 3:41 PM.
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