More Lanes, More Traffic: What California Loses When Innovation is Replaced by Gridlock

In another attack against California, the Trump administration has pulled federal funding from the California High Speed Rail project. Although most of California’s politicians see the high speed rail project as an opportunity for California to yet again lead the nation in technological advancement, some within our counties consider the restriction of California’s infrastructural development to be a victory. Kevin Kiley, Republican Representative for California Congressional District 3, took the opportunity to celebrate on X.

This isn’t a new campaign for GOP lawmakers in California, as the high speed rail project has been a right-wing political talking point for over a decade. Now that the Republican goal of marginalizing California sovereignty has moved one step closer to realization, what do we get as a consolation prize for the elimination of funding for our high speed rail project? We get another lane on highway 65. 

Using the federal funding allocated from an Obama led infrastructure bill passed in 2009, that U.S. House Republicans systematically voted against, $22.5 million will now be allocated in order to complete a project that’s known to increase congestion.

Although Kiley and company are celebrating this as a win, it should be noted that when this bill was passed, it was done so with near unilateral rejection from the Republican party, with only one House Representative from the East Coast breaking rank and voting in favor of infrastructure.

In an article referencing the folly of adding lane to alleviation of traffic, the Sacramento Bee referenced a 2021 CalSTA study which said “research over the past several decades has demonstrated that highway capacity expansion has not resulted in long-term congestion relief and in some cases has worsened congestion, particularly in urbanized regions.”

What GOP lawmakers, Kiley, and anyone else looking to earn political points for antiquated transportation policy has neglected to recognize is that an added lane will create something called induced demand wherein drivers will change their habits and drive on the highway with the new lane when before, they might’ve taken a different route. This theory has been proven time and time again to be true, but the addition of lanes has been used to garner favor from constituents without making any kind of positive impact in alleviating traffic since the days of Robert Moses.

If entire schools of thought regarding traffic congestion won’t convince you of past mistakes and wasted resources, then we can instead rely upon other municipalities that have taken more robust measures to comprehend their traffic concerns. Austin, TX, in their attempt to better understand the impact of induced demand and induced traffic, set up this handy calculator to determine what the additional impact of road construction will have on transportation infrastructure through induced demand. For our region, we can expect 1 highway mile to create another 4-6 million vehicle miles traveled to area commuters.

“Yet again, innovation has been stifled by GOP lawmakers attempting to mitigate the principles that have led this state into being the fourth largest economy in the world.”

We could easily look at the myriad of articles warning other municipalities about the false merit of lane expansion, or check in with the cities around this nation as to why they have chosen to seek out alternative means of alleviating traffic congestion, but the only questions we should be asking is this. Does this expansion help the people of California get to work on time, or get home to spend more time with their families? All of these studies lead to a similar conclusion, that lane expansion will lead to increased congestion and longer commutes.

Yet again, innovation has been stifled by GOP lawmakers attempting to mitigate the principles that have led this state into being the fourth largest economy in the world. Examples like the elimination of high speed rail for the expansion of traffic lanes show that the economic expansion of California has been able to take place DESPITE GOP lawmakers, not because of.

What we are looking for is lawmakers that reflect the pioneering and innovative spirit of our state. We’re talking about the same state that bred the tech boom which influences every aspect of our digital footprints, or the same state that leads in the biotech field, an industry with offices and tax responsibilities throughout Placer County.