The Rationality Will Pass

Vice Mayor Sam Hindi and Councilmember Gary Pollard
install the first bike symbol in Foster City in 2017.

In California, where private citizens and businesses are subject to the latest whims of the one-party State--no plastic bags, no plastic straws, jail for using the wrong pronoun--the only effective pushback can come from another State government agency (as for the ineffectual Feds, two words: sanctuary city).

Scott Wiener, State Senator from San Francisco and incidentally the sponsor of the jailtime-for-wrong-pronouns law, wants to require crosswalks and bike lanes for new road projects. Though the proposal sounds innocuous, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) objects:

Caltrans estimated that SB127 would cost more than $1 billion a year, or $4.5 million for each mile of blacktop. Caltrans officials said the state may lose its federal highway funds if the bill passes.

What Wiener had pitched as easy-to-do striping and crosswalk geometry would actually require a significant investment, according to a memo from state transportation officials. Most state roads promote ease and convenience for motorists above other uses. It takes a lot of staff, equipment and money to redesign them. Caltrans estimated it would have to complete 105 pavement projects — or 599 miles — in the next two years to meet the bill’s requirements.

In a fit of rationality California, which spent billions on the high-speed train to nowhere, is applying cost-benefit analysis to a transportation proposal.

Not to worry, folks, this mood shall pass, Scott Wiener's bill will pass, taxes will go up, and California will have a shot at claiming the mantle of having the highest gas tax in the nation.