Here’s the statement, issued Wednesday morning by County Supervisor Don Knabe, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Metro:

Metro is encouraged by last night’s State of the Union speech where President Obama talked about the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and his commitment to redoubling efforts to fund important infrastructure transportation projects.

Metro remains committed to working with both Congress and the Obama administration in the months ahead as L.A. County stands poised in delivering vital transportation improvement projects to this region. We couldn’t agree more that projects selected for funding be projects that are best for the economy and job creation.

The voters of L.A. County have voted three times in the last three decades to tax themselves in order to improve mobility in the region. Working together, we can embark upon an aggressive transportation infrastructure improvement program to meet those goals.

The taxes that Knabe is referring to are the half-penny sales tax increases approved by county voters in 1980, 1990 and 2008. Those taxes, among other improvements, have been used to expand Metro’s bus system and fund the creation and expansion of Metro Rail.