Lawsuits Filed Over $200 Billion Transportation Plan

We all knew this was coming, so come it did, albeit from a different, but entirely welcome direction.

Lawsuits filed over $200B transportation plan

Environmentalists contend scheme favors freeways over public transit

Written by Christopher Cadelago  10:20 a.m., Nov. 28, 2011

Two environmental organizations challenged a plan outlining $200 billion in regional transportation projects through 2050, alleging Monday that the San Diego Association of Governments’ planned investments in freeways would come at the expense of public transit, increased pollution and exacerbated global climate change.

The lawsuit brought by the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity alleges that regional transportation officials replied on inadequate environmental studies in approving the long-range planning document on Oct. 28.

The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, lists several violations of the California Environmental Quality Act.

“The time to move aggressively toward a more sustainable way of life is upon us,” said Jack Shu, president of the Cleveland National Forest Foundation. “SANDAG’s plan promotes an unsustainable vision for San Diego County: More traffic, less transit; more pollution, no solutions.”

SANDAG's chief spokesman said the agency had yet to review the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.

The 2050 Regional Transportation Plan, regarded as a blueprint for the transportation network over the next four decades, includes projects to add 156 miles of trolley service, 130 miles of managed highway lanes, and nearly $4 billion for bicycle and pedestrian projects, among other things. It also calls for turning the downtown trolley lines into a subway.

SANDAG at the time the plan was approved said transit should receive about half of the total funding. But most of the public transit improvements would be delayed for decades and, once completed, would come up short of the robust network needed and instead encourage more driving, according to the lawsuit.

On greenhouse gas reduction goals, the plan says the county would double its target by 2015 and meet it in 2030, the two state-mandated deadlines. After that, the document projects the region would lose ground in pollution reduction.

“SANDAG’s plan flies in the face of everything we know about climate change,” Kevin Bundy, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement. “The science is clear: We need ambitious, lasting reductions in climate pollution by 2050, and that means livable communities with access to transit systems that really work. More freeways and sprawl won’t get us there.”