High cost of traffic
Maintaining and boosting Southern California's transportation system over the next three decades could cost some $531 billion and require new taxes, tolls and user fees, a regional planning group said Friday. Harrison Sheppard and Kerrty Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
In its latest 30-year plan, the Southern California Association of Governments spelled out a range of projects that the region desperately needs to keep people and goods moving - from high-tech maglev rail lines to low-tech pothole repairs.
And the region has to plan for at least an additional 6million people in the next 30 years, said Gary Ovitt, immediate past president of SCAG and a San Bernardino County supervisor.
"That means more vehicles and more people traveling," he said. "We really want to get these projects done - and we would love to do even more because we can't afford to take the risk that we don't implement changes to improve the quality of life."