Opinion: California Must Walk the Walk on Transportation Emissions

In an opinion piece in Streetsblog California, Kendra Ramsey calls out the state’s hypocrisy when it comes to transportation emissions.

Our state is promoting itself as a climate leader, and in some respects, that’s accurate. But California can’t claim the mantle of responsible climate stewardship while it continues to build freeways that increase emissions and pollute vulnerable communities.

Ramsey points out the contradictions between the state’s stated goals and actual policies: while state officials discuss climate change at COP28, “back in California, Fresno residents have had to sue Caltrans for failing to disclose the carbon impact of two new freeway interchanges that will contribute to a significant increase in truck traffic.”

For Ramsey, the key to real change is reforming Caltrans and other institutions that perpetuate outdated car-centric planning systems and insist on road building as a solution to congestion. Instead, “Caltrans should be inducing demand for active transportation by building protected bikeways with protected intersections that connect to robust local and regional networks of safe bike routes. It should be adding bus-only lanes and bus boarding islands, widening sidewalks, and improving conditions for people who walk or take transit.”