"We have a mess out there," says California Transportation Commissioner Darnell Grisby of his state's transportation plans, which are often "full of good ideas but are aspirational, not grounded; disjointed, not connected."
That's according to a new report from the University of California, Berkeley, which finds that California's transportation plans are "disjointed, not connected," and often focus on "small sections that will 'add functionality' to an existing road, but when you add all the separate pieces together, what you get is a brand-new expressway," Grisby tells the San Francisco Chronicle.
"This, he says, is 'not fair to people across the state,' who have little opportunity to understand and weigh in on projects, and there is no room to explore whether they will support larger state goals," the report's lead author tells the Los Angeles Times.
"We need a better way to follow and talk about these more honestly," adds UC Berkeley professor Elizabeth Deakin, who co-authored the report.
"We need a stronger civic society, we need better funded advocacy organizationsto tackle the problem of educating voters," Grisby adds, noting that the state needs " clearer and more consistent data so we can evaluate projects."
The report
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