ClimatePlan statements following the California Transportation Commission’s approval of six highway expansion projects

(Sacramento, Calif - June 27, 2025) The CTC yesterday approved over $600 million in SB 1 funding for highway expansion projects across the state that will increase driving, worsen congestion, and exacerbate the climate crisis. With the backdrop of the federal administration attacking California’s climate authority, this decision by the CTC reinforces status quo highway investment despite urgent calls from climate and equity advocates in the ClimatePlan Network for investment in climate and community-supported solutions.

Jeanie Ward-Waller, director of ClimatePlan, said: “Commissioners once again have bowed down to the flawed mythology that adding lanes to highways reduces traffic congestion, this time at a cost of over $600 million. Study after study, and our own experience, tell us that this strategy only brings more cars and more cost for people wasting hours and dollars sitting in traffic. The only relief from this traffic death spiral is to give people more options in the form of public transportation, bike lanes, and pedestrian walkways. We appreciate Commissioners Lugo, Mann, and Eliot asking valid questions about several egregious projects, but are frustrated that the final vote will continue California down the path of wasting more public dollars on boondoggle projects.”

Researchers in countless studies have documented “induced demand” for driving, which describes how adding new highway lanes in the hope of reducing traffic only encourages more drivers to use the road, which in the end results in higher levels of congestion. Perhaps the best example of this was the $1.1 billion 405 Freeway expansion in Los Angeles, which after years of frustrating construction delays and closures actually resulted in worse congestion on the freeway within days of opening new lanes in 2015. 

“Instead of spending scarce state funds on projects we know will fail to achieve stated goals, we should be investing in solutions that will build a resilient transportation system in California: projects that increase access to transit, and safe places to bike and walk” adds Kendra Ramsey, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition.  

“We are particularly disappointed that the CTC decided to move forward with the State Route 37 interim project,” said Zack Deutsch-Gross, Policy Director at Transform. “Spending $500m for a highway widening project that will be underwater within two decades of completion is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.” 

“The Tulare Six-Lane Widening project will exacerbate pollution and injustice for unincorporated communities like Matheny Tract in the San Joaquin Valley that already suffer from the worst air pollution in California,” said Emma De La Rosa with Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. “We are disappointed that the CTC approved funding for this project when families desperately need clean air and investments for safe local streets instead.”

"We know from decades of experience across the country that these 6 highway widening projects approved by CTC are like weak medicine, only providing "temporary relief" for traffic congestion, and not attacking the underlying problem of too many cars on the road", said Chris Roberts, Transportation Lead at SanDiego350. "How can we not have learned that these projects only encourage more car driving, while preventing us from increasing light rail and bus services, building more bicycle infrastructure, and improving street safety for pedestrians."

“Highway expansion has always come at a steep cost to communities of color — and it’s still happening today, with billions wasted on projects that displace people and deepen inequities. Meanwhile, these costly projects fail to deliver on promises of congestion relief, safety, or access, even as Californians face some of the worst road conditions in the nation, “said Yesenia Perez, Senior Program Manager at The Greenlining Institute.  “It’s time to stop funding failed strategies and invest in climate-resilient transportation that moves us forward, not backwards.” 

“In addition to being bad for traffic and our climate, the decision to fund these projects to the tune of $600 million is particularly tone-deaf as the Legislature and Governor attempt to solve a $12 billion deficit with cuts to critical social and educational programs,” said Jamie Pew, Policy Advisor at NextGen California. “California taxpayers will see no true public benefit from these widening projects, yet they will foot the bill for them instead of much more pressing needs – to construct more housing near job centers, to electrify freight corridors, and to build a multimodal transit system fit for our future.”

“Meeting California’s climate, air quality, and equity goals, will require CTC to shift funds away from highway expansion projects and prioritize spending on more cost-effective projects that deliver multi-benefits. Low income and communities of color that live adjacent to freeway corridors and are disproportionately impacted by transportation pollution need and deserve cleaner air and more transportation options —not more highway lanes that are a bad use of public dollars and only increase traffic congestion, generate more air pollution and GHG emissions, and cause displacement.” - Catalina Gonzalez, Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform. 

The six projects opposed by the coalition were all approved by the CTC in their June 26 meeting and are sponsored by Caltrans and the local agencies listed below, including:

1. Solano/Sonoma Counties - SR 37 Sears Point to Mare Island Widening Project
2. Tulare County - Tulare Six-lane and Paige Ave SR 99 Interchange Project
3. Los Angeles County - SR 71 Gap Closure Widening Project
4. Stanislaus County - SR 132 West Phase 3A New Expressway Project
5. Contra Costa County - I-680/SR-4 Interchange Expansion
6. City of Moreno Valley - SR-60/World Logistics Center Parkway Interchange Expansion

About ClimatePlan

The ClimatePlan partnership was formed in 2007, and works to improve land-use and transportation planning to protect Californians’ health, communities, environment, and climate. The coalition now includes more than 50 partners, who represent a broad range of interests, from urban planning and public health experts, to social equity advocates, to farmland preservationists. ClimatePlan’s mission is to advance policies and programs to address the relationship between land use policy and climate change, and leverage the resources and partnerships necessary to realize more sustainable and equitable development throughout California.

Learn more at climateplan.org.