Traffic jams. Lots of cars. Parking problems. Air pollution, neighborhood degradation, global warming.

Nearly 90% of the cars on our streets and roads have only a single occupant.

In California, roughly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation (50% in the Bay Area), mostly from private cars.

What to do?

We would like to see a more balanced transportation plan for Santa Cruz County than currently exists. For the past several years, our Regional Transportation Commission has specified that top priority for the use of available funds be given to projects that would add lanes to Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, with lower priority given to projects that would enhance other public and private transportation alternatives.

A more balanced approach would include enhancing our bus system, making better use of Santa Cruz County's 32-mile rail corridor, projects for bicycles and pedestrians (including “safe routes to schools”) and projects for seniors and those with disabilities. Such a balanced approach would also help us to address the crucial issue of Greenhouse Gas emissions.

We do recognize the significant advantages of the private automobile, and while we do not advocate adding lanes to Highway 1 (which recent studies have shown to exacerbate Greenhouse Gas emissions), we do advocate other improvements that seem likely to increase mobility in the Highway 1 corridor, such as ramp-metering with bypass lanes on entrance ramps.

As noted in the box at the right, we are proposing a plan. We call it Plan C. It stresses Community needs, Choice, Climate protection and Corridor mobility. Although it might win voter support, it was not favored by the majority of the Transportation Funding Task Force members, and has yet to be seriously considered by our Regional Transportation Commission. The Highway 1 portion of Plan C is similar to the TSM alternative for the HOV Lanes Widening Project (described here), but without the auxiliary lanes.

Widening of Highway 1 is a 1950s-style attempt to solve a 21st century problem. Consider the following:

• Adding lanes to Highway 1 will not reduce traffic congestion. To find out why, click here.
  
• We're told by CalTrans that a widened Highway 1 will look like Highway 85 in Santa Clara County.

• Adding lanes to Highway 1 is incredibly expensive and irreversible. In only a few years, the highway will become congested again. What then?
• “Pity the politician who promises to fix the urban transportation problem.” This comprehensive Guide to Urban Transportation by Gordon Price should be required reading for everyone.

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