(a) The VTA may construct and operate or acquire and operate transit works and facilities and may construct, acquire, and provide for repair and maintenance of transportation facilities, in, under, upon, over, across, or along any state or public highway or any stream, bay, or watercourse, or over any of the lands that are the property of the state, to the same extent that the rights and privileges appertaining thereto are granted to municipalities within the state.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), and subject to the approval of the Department of Transportation, the VTA may provide funding for the repair and maintenance of state highways within the boundaries of the VTA.
(2) The VTA shall not directly, or indirectly, except by providing funding pursuant to paragraph (1), repair or maintain any state highway.