Council Member & Former Caltrans Employee’s Remarks on I-80
Submitted by Alan Hirsch
Below is a transcription of Councilperson Will Arnold remarks on the I-80 widening for the video of the 1/9/24 Davis Council meeting. Arnold was the Manager of Media Relations at Caltrans HQ until August 2023. His testimony adds to that of the Hi level whistle blower Jeanie Ward-Waller She accused Caltrans of violations CEQA in moving ahead freeway widenings and I-80 project in specific. YoloTD Board has never asked their staff or Caltrans a single question about that in any open board meeting.
(Link to city website with video see time stamp 3:51:29)
“Thank you, Mayor Chapman.
There is an important note I want to read:
‘Highway investments over the years have contributed to a dependence on automobiles and supported development patterns that have made walking, cycling and transit use inefficient, challenging and sometime dangerous in many parts of the state. Highway investment have also contributed to the displacement and division of some neighborhoods and imposed noise and safety hazard on many others.
Further research over the past several decades had demonstrated that highway capacity expansion has not resulted in long term congestion relief and in some cases has worsen congestion, particularly in urbanized regions. (ed note: all emphasis his) Projects in urban area that add travel lanes result in changes in travel behavior due to a short-term reduction in travel time and improvement in reliability. This phenomenon known as “Induced travel” explains why adding capacity has rarely succeed in reducing congestion over the long term or supported alternatives to driving and more transportation efficient land uses.
Finally, highway expansions are costly. Expansion of the existing highway system means less available funding for other transportation needs and priorities as well as continued increase to long term maintenance costs for the existing system. As a result, we cannot continue the same pattern of highway expansion investment in California and expect different results. 3:52:52
Rethinking our approach to highway expansion programs will be a critical part of insuring we are working toward equitably meeting our climate change goals. 3:53:01 ‘
This is part of the state Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure, known as CAPTI. This is a document passed in 2021 by the state transportation agency signed by Davis Hi Alumnus David Kim, former (CA) Secretary of Transportation
They Know. THEY KNOW (Arnold emphasis), They know what we are saying it true.
This isn’t a secrete in Sacramento, this it isn’t a secrete in any of the 12 Caltrans districts, even District 12 in Orange county. They know.
And yet, we reach these inflection points where it’s time to put our money where our mouth is as a state in how we invest our limited transportation dollars, and we each these inflection points and the same thing keep happening when we invest in what we know, which is more freeways, or lanes expecting a different result.
Which we know is the definition of Insanity.” ends 3:54:18
Davisite 