Category Archives: News

Sacramento supervisors are addicted to sprawl. It could cost our region dearly | Opinion by Tom Philp, Dec 7, 2023, The Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento region could lose about $1 billion in state transportation funds in the coming years if it fails to develop a housing/transportation plan that reduces sprawl and increases housing within communities. Yet Sacramento County does not seem to care as it reflexively pushes for more sprawl.

Click here to read the article: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article281716338.html#storylink=cpy

Why are Sacramento County Supervisors pursuing a lame idea that’s bad for the region? Opinion by Tom Philp, Oct 24, 2023, The Sacramento Bee

An October opinion piece in the Bee states the Sacramento region has already approved more suburban projects than the region will need for the next generation.

“It is time for supervisors to think far more strategically about growth. They must acknowledge that there can only be so much growth and what growth is approved must happen in a way that minimizes congestion and maximizes affordable housing and transit opportunities. Otherwise, it simply doesn’t make sense for the Sacramento County of today. . .

According to the latest SACOG population projections, the entire six-county region is expected to grow by approximately 278,000 between now and 2050. But Sacramento County’s transportation staff is suggesting that nearly half of the region’s entire growth is about to happen in Supervisor Phil Serna’s district.”

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article280893568.html#storylink=cpy

Click here to read the article: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article280893568.html

The widening of I-80 works against California’s climate goals 

By Stephen M. Wheeler and Barbara Leary, Special to the Bee | October 17, 2023 | The Sacramento Bee

If we want to know why our state’s transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions have risen since the early 2010s, a good place to look is Caltrans. The agency has long been fixated on widening roads and creating “induced demand” which has led to more driving. Currently, this cycle continues through the agency’s questionable efforts to create additional lanes on the I-80 Yolo Bypass causeway leading into Sacramento. And recently, a high-level administrator was demoted after attempting to stop such actions.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article280482349.html#storylink=cpy

Controversy engulfs Causeway project

Monica Stark, The Davis Enterprise, October 15, 2023

“‘It’s been pretty obvious to me just from observing the ‘rehabilitation’ project that it was doing the sort of deep roadbed work needed for widening,’ Stephen Wheeler, UC Davis professor of human ecology, said…”

Click here to read the article.