SAN DIEGO --- County supervisors have unanimously decided to call the proposed $14 billion, 40-year extension of the TransNet transportation tax "Proposition A" on the November ballot.

Officials from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Building Industry Association were among several speakers who urged the board Tuesday to designate the proposed extension Prop. A to place it at the top of the ballot and make it the first ballot measure voters will see.

Regional transportation and many local political officials are hoping that the necessary two-thirds of voters will approve the half-cent sales tax extension. Proponents say the extension would pay for freeway and local road projects to dissolve traffic jams on a slew of traffic-choked freeways, including Interstates 5,8, 15, 805 and 905, and Highways 52, 54, 56, 76, 78, 94 and 125 -- in addition to spending money for mass transit: bus service and rail projects such as the existing Coaster and proposed Sprinter lines.

County board members, however, voted 3-2 several months ago to oppose the extension, saying it does too much for mass transit and not enough for roads and freeways.