Tag Archive for: Bay Area

Honoring Sheroes of Bay Area Housing and Transit

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Women have always played crucial roles in moving the United States forward, but their names have often been obscured by history, their key contributions not lifted up. There are too many women — just in the Bay Area — who stood up for equitable housing and transit to name them all here. We include four sheroes below. See Transform’s social feeds for even more.

Minnie Straub Baxter

Herminia “Minnie” Straub Baxter (1895–1991) was a 64-year-old grandmother who sparked the San Francisco Freeway Revolt. In 1958, when plans emerged to run a freeway through her Glen Park neighborhood — threatening homes and the beloved Glen Canyon Park — Baxter printed cards reading “Come learn how Glen Park will be destroyed” and rallied 500 neighbors to a meeting. Minnie’s leadership, along with two other women dubbed the “Gum Tree Girls,” galvanized public opposition citywide. Their grassroots activism ultimately halted the proposed freeways, protecting many San Francisco communities. Her fight preserved green space and homes in working-class areas, showing that even a “housewife” from a marginalized outer neighborhood could influence urban policy. Her courage empowered other citizen activists, many of them women, to speak up for environmental justice and community rights in the city planning process.

Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams (1935–1995) was a multi-talented activist: a producer, playwright, educator, and a leader in the civil rights era. As part of the “Big Five of Bayview,” she co-founded one of the city’s first subsidized housing cooperatives, helping create over 2,000 affordable housing units with on-site childcare. Williams also chaired the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s Employment Committee, fighting job discrimination. She saved the historic Bayview Opera House from demolition after riots in 1966, later establishing the Bayview Repertory Theater to uplift Black art and youth. Impact: Ruth’s holistic activism — housing, jobs, health (she led heart disease awareness after losing her husband) — transformed Bayview-Hunters Point. She empowered Black residents to build economic self-sufficiency and preserved community identity through arts and education. The Bayview Opera House now bears her name, a testament to her enduring impact on a marginalized community’s resilience and pride.

Judith Huemann

Judy Heumann (1947–2023) was a pioneering disability rights activist whose Bay Area advocacy revolutionized public transit accessibility. After a bout with polio as an infant, Huemann used a wheelchair for mobility. She and her parents had to fight for access to education and other opportunities, which were largely closed to people in wheelchairs at the time. As an adult, she became a fierce advocate for disability rights, moving to the Bay Area in 1975 to become deputy director of the Center for Independent Living. In April 1977, Heumann was one of the leaders of the historic Section 504 sit-in at San Francisco’s Federal Building — a 28-day occupation by people with disabilities that resulted in concessions from the state and better educational access for children with disabilities. You can learn more about Huemann’s groundbreaking activism in the movie Crip Camp.

Jean Quan

Jean Quan (born 1949) made history as Oakland’s first woman and first Asian-American mayor (2011–2015). But her advocacy for equitable housing and transit began long before. In the 1970s, Quan was a young activist at UC Berkeley pushing for ethnic studies and community control of development. As a city councilmember, she helped secure funding for the Fruitvale Transit Village, a nationally acclaimed mixed-use affordable housing project at a BART station that improved transit and housing access in a predominantly Latino community. As mayor, Quan launched her version of the 10K Housing Plan championed by her predecessors: a plan to bring 10,000 new residents with 7,500 new units (many affordable) in Oakland. Though ultimately derailed by the financial crisis of 2008, the plan resulted in 6,000 new units. Quan also championed the free “B” Broadway Shuttle connecting downtown to Jack London Square. She also opened Oakland’s City Hall to non-English speaking communities, empowering historically marginalized Asian and immigrant residents to engage in civic planning and demand better transit and housing services.

There are many, many more women who championed affordable housing and transit, including many alive today and still doing fantastic work. We honor all of them in March — and every month.

We Won’t Be Divided: Transform Keeps Fighting for Sustainability and Justice

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The second Trump administration is here, already emboldening hate, stripping protections from vulnerable communities, and unraveling decades of progress on climate and equity. These senseless and destructive actions are designed to divide and disorient us and to erode the very systems that allow people to build power together and speak up for change.

Trump and his enablers are dismantling climate policies, attacking sustainable transportation, and erasing equity as a guiding principle. They are gutting EV funding, defunding equity-centered infrastructure, and stripping vital clean transportation investments from the communities that need them most. They’re investigating California High-Speed Rail and illegally interfering with NYC congestion pricing. His DOT plans to eliminate all funding for climate action, racial and gender equity, and environmental justice.

Public transit, safe streets, and walkable communities bring people together — but under Trump, these spaces are under attack. His administration’s deportation crackdowns and assaults on trans rights are making public spaces unsafe — turning even schools, workplaces, and public restrooms into sites of fear.

But here’s what they don’t understand: We are not easily divided. We are not easily deterred. And we are certainly not giving up. Here in the Bay Area and in California, our movement is fighting for communities that are just, sustainable, and connected. For three decades, Transform has been at the forefront of that fight, and now, we’re doubling down.

Transform’s work: A beacon in the storm

Transform has always built power from the ground up — because real democracy starts in our communities. Democracy is built through engaging, educating, and empowering people by listening to and lifting up the voices of communities that have borne the brunt of racist planning and underinvestment over the course of decades. And now is the time to double down on that work. 

Here’s how we’re fighting back:

  • Protecting essential infrastructure investments: We’re fighting Trump’s attempts to claw back critical IIJA/IRA investments in sustainable, equitable mobility.
  • Pushing California to keep leading the way: We are making sure that California continues to lead the nation in investing in transit, biking, and walking instead of freeway expansion — holding Caltrans and our elected officials accountable. 
  • Defending investments in transit-oriented, affordable housing: We are partnering with environmental justice organizations to ensure that California’s Cap-and-Trade Program truly benefits the communities most impacted by climate change.
  • Empowering communities: We are listening, learning, and partnering with people on the ground — because those most affected by these policies should be the ones shaping solutions. We’re partnering with city staff and elected officials to develop mobility plans that foster inclusivity and safety. 
  • Promoting truly safe transit for everyone: We promote safety solutions that do not rely on policing but instead prioritize community-based strategies. Our 2023 safety report lays out a vision for making transit and public spaces safe for everyone.
  • Walking in solidarity with vulnerable immigrant families by helping their kids get to school safely in walking school buses. 

This is the moment to act

Now is not the time to retreat. Now is the time to organize, to push harder, to demand the just and sustainable communities we all deserve.

We need you in this fight. Here’s how you can take action:

Transform has always been about building the world we want to see — one rooted in connection, community, and democracy. That work has never been more urgent. But we are not in this struggle alone: our supporters, community partners, fellow advocates — YOU — are vital to our success. We won’t be divided. Together, we can stand against hate, against fear, and against the destruction of our planet and our communities.

Transform Joins Fight to Save SF Muni 

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The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which runs the city’s essential Muni transit service, faces a budget deficit of up to $322 million by 2026, threatening the integrity of the system. As part of our commitment to preserving and improving public transit, Transform joined the Muni Now, Muni Forever campaign as part of the Transit Justice Coalition — a group of transit riders, disability advocates, climate advocates, members of labor unions, and community groups — to meet with members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on January 16. We were part of a lobby day to speak with the city’s elected leaders about the need to find money to fully fund Muni.

Funding shortfalls caused by external factors, not ridership loss

The funding shortfall is a result of several factors, including a decline in the amount of parking revenue Muni receives from the city’s general fund, inflation, and a reduction in federal aid. Only a small portion of SFMTA’s deficit is due to pandemic ridership loss, as Muni only gets a small portion of its revenue from fares. Additionally, Muni ridership has continued to recover, reaching 78% of pre-pandemic levels. Weekend ridership has reached 92% of pre-pandemic levels, and some lines have even surpassed their pre-pandemic ridership. 

Muni and other public transit providers serving the city are critical not only to San Francisco but all of the Bay Area. In September, there were an average of 521,000 weekday trips on Muni every day. In fact, Muni carries the most riders of all the Bay Area transit agencies, and many regular riders are not San Francisco residents. 

SFMTA’s $322 million budget deficit is already leading to service cuts and reductions. On February 1, Muni reduced service on the 1X California Express, 38 Geary, 24 Divisadero, and 43 Masonic buses and on the K Ingleside and M Ocean View light-rail Metro service. 

These cuts could be followed by a further 3% service cut this summer, and if additional funding still isn’t found, service cuts could balloon up to 30%. The SFMTA Board of Directors is pushing back on proposed Muni service cuts, asking the agency to dip into its reserves and look elsewhere for cost savings to balance its budget. The Transit Justice Coalition will continue to mobilize to gain more funding and prevent these service cuts.

Bearing witness to the crucial role of transit in San Francisco

In meetings with members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, advocates impressed upon them that public transit should be a top priority in San Francisco. We asked that they explore funding options that would equitably balance the budget deficit without resorting to service cuts. 

Constituents spoke with their district supervisors to share how important transit was in their everyday lives. San Franciscans rely on Muni to get to doctor appointments, enjoy and patronize businesses in San Francisco, and much more. Advocates related how cuts to transit would devastate their quality of life and the economic prosperity of San Francisco. 

Many of the supervisors were supportive of our cause but seemed to be missing the sense of urgency around the issue and the importance of their role in shoring up SFMTA’s finances. The agency can only do so much to plug its deficit. As stewards of the city budget, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has a lot of power in putting forth a balanced budget that prioritizes transit. Transform is standing with advocates demanding the city do more to solve this critical issue now.

MTC released its latest transportation plan. Here’s why we’re worried.

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The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) recently released its final blueprint of Plan Bay Area 2050+, the region’s latest long-range plan to address transportation, housing, the economy, and the environment over the next 30 years. According to MTC, Plan Bay Area 2050+ is “an opportunity to refine select plan strategies to integrate the lessons of the last three years.” 

Unfortunately, much of the plan could have been written for the past 30 years, as it continues highway expansion policies that worsen congestion and contribute to a warming planet while continuing to under-invest in active and public transportation infrastructure, making the Bay Area less affordable for the average working family. 

A recently released project list details $45 billion in highway projects over the next 30 years. While that represents about 9% of MTC’s total projected transportation investment, a smaller percentage than other metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and California’s state transportation budget put toward highway widening, much of the highway spending is front-loaded at the beginning of the plan, undercutting transit, walking, and biking investments while baking in congestion, pollution, and emissions for the next three decades.

Plan Bay Area 2050+ will likely fail to meet its emissions reduction target

As part of Senate Bill 375, MTC is required to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions from passenger vehicles by 19% by 2035. As our state contends with horrific wildfires during a wildfire season that extends year-round while also battling floods and drought, hitting this goal is more important than ever. However, according to the California Air Resources Board’s emission-tracking dashboard, we are moving in the wrong direction, with regional GHGs and vehicle miles traveled exceeding pre-pandemic levels. 

Unfortunately, based on the transportation project list, we’re concerned that Plan Bay Area 2050+ is unlikely to achieve the required emissions reduction. Of the $45 billion dedicated to highways, over a third, about $16 billion, is earmarked for highway expansion, interchanges, and ramp widening, which all generate significant emissions and don’t even reduce congestion. 

While the highway investment represents a fraction of the overall plan, it has an outsized climate impact. According to research from Georgetown Climate Center, you would need 10 times the investment in intercity rail to offset the emissions generated by each lane mile of highway expansion. 

Making matters worse, Transform has already raised concerns about two of these highway expansion projects, SR 37 and I-680. We believe these projects will have much larger negative VMT and emissions impacts than MTC is projecting. 

Front-loading climate destruction

MTC has put much of the highway widening in the first 10 years of the plan, baking in climate-killing emissions for the duration of the plan and ensuring maximum damage from the additional vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Nearly 80% of the highway expansion and 41 out of 88 projects are slated for the early years of the plan.

At the same time, some of the most effective greenhouse gas reduction strategies — all-lane tolling and pricing parking — won’t begin until 2035 at the earliest. We are already late in deploying these tools; we cannot and should not wait another 10 years before we take significant steps to reduce driving.

MTC — and all of California’s state and regional agencies — must stop acting like climate change is anything but an emergency. While Plan Bay Area 2050+ is an improvement on previous plans, it is simply not aggressive enough to compensate for decades of nonstop highway expansion. We can act quickly when needed; the actions already taken to respond to and streamline rebuilding after the Los Angeles fires demonstrate that. We need the same sense of urgency in addressing the climate emergency that we have in rebuilding after the catastrophes it causes or makes worse.

We need a better direction for the Bay Area’s transportation future

The projects included in Plan Bay Area 2050+ will set the funding decisions and priorities for the Bay Area’s transportation, housing, environment, and economy for the next 30 years, so getting this right is critical. Setting the wrong priorities or front-loading funding to projects that aren’t aligned with the priorities could lead to missed funding opportunities and missed climate goals.

Transform’s advocacy will inform the final blueprint, which the MTC will approve this spring. MTC will then send it to the California Air Resources Board, which must approve it and certify that it will meet sustainable communities strategy goals. We will continue advocating as the agencies involved finalize the plan over the next year, working to eliminate highway widening and expand funding for programs that support climate mitigation and the affordable, accessible, sustainable transportation options the Bay Area needs.

MTC Tolling Study an Important Step Forward, But Equity Concerns Remain 

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The Bay Area has two problems with the same solution: highway congestion and the climate crisis. Both require us to drive less and use other transportation modes more. However, incentivizing people to choose other modes can be a challenge.

In 2022, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) launched the Next Generation Bay Area Freeways Study with the goals of “analyzing the feasibility, costs, benefits, and public support for tolling certain Bay Area freeways as a strategy for delivering reliably high-speed travel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by passenger vehicles.” In September and October 2024, MTC briefed and solicited feedback from Transform staff on the options it’s studying. 

What is tolling?

Toll roads are not a new concept. In other parts of the country, you can find many highways where drivers must pay a fee on entering or exiting. This may be a flat fee or based on the distance traveled. 

Studies have found that introducing tolls can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Tolls on highway travel have the added benefit of reducing congestion, making travel faster for those who still need to drive. In fact, tolling is a better long-term solution for congestion than adding highway lanes. New lanes, even HOV or tolled lanes, lead to more driving, more greenhouse gases, and — within five to 10 years — more congestion.

Getting around in a private vehicle imposes an external cost on everyone, whether they drive or not, by creating pollution and contributing to a warming climate. Tolls place more of the true costs of driving back on the driver. Tolling is an excellent strategy for the Bay Area to explore. However, as the study notes, the MTC doesn’t currently have the authority to impose tolls; it would need state legislation to do that.

Two tolling options

The MTC study includes six pathways that they studied but really focuses on two main pathways. The first is all-lane highway tolling, which means all lanes of all major highways during weekday rush hours from 6-10 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. would be tolled. The second is a mileage-based user fee that would charge drivers on all roads in the Bay Area based on the number of miles they drive during all hours.

When it comes to affordability, reliability, equity, and safety, each option has its pros and cons, according to modeling MTC staff uses to estimate the costs and benefits. For example, all-lane tolling would potentially:

  • Decrease overall vehicle miles traveled by 4%
  • Decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 2% 
  • Decrease highway peak travel times by 14% 
  • Increase transit usage by 0.3%. 

The tolling option would also be more affordable for families as tolls for households below 200% of the federal poverty level would be capped at a maximum of $70 annually. 

A mileage-based user fee would:

  • Decrease overall vehicle miles traveled by 2%
  • Decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 2%
  • Decrease highway peak travel times by 2%  
  • Increase transit usage by 0.7%. 

A mileage-based user fee would be less affordable for families than all-lane tolling, as households below 200% of the federal poverty level would pay as much as $300 annually before they reached the cap. 

The all-lane tolling option could increase local street usage by 11%, according to MTC’s modeling, bringing more smog and pollution to our local roads. It could also cause local roads to need more frequent repairs, which would upset local politicians. However, it is important to note that tolling freeways doesn’t just divert all the traffic to local roads. It’s also more likely to reduce overall demand for driving, so even though MTC’s modeling shows an increase in local road usage, we might not see this big of an increase on local roads when it’s applied in real-world conditions. This option would decrease vehicle miles traveled on highways by much more than a mileage-based user fee, but the user fee does not increase local street usage at all. In fact, it decreases street usage by 2%.

Increasing transit usage is an important cornerstone of Transform’s philosophy, and the mileage-based user fee would increase transit usage more than highway tolling because it would generate more revenues than highway tolling. Therefore, more transit investments could be made by reinvesting revenues from the mileage-based user fee for transit for the same amount of GHG reduction. The user fee has a lower initial financial cost to implement because it comes with zero capital costs and brings in an annual net revenue of $2 billion. All-lane tolling would require $2.3 billion in capital costs to implement and would bring in an annual net revenue of $550 million.

Equitable tolling

For Transform, equity is an essential component in all policy changes. Tolling and increasing transit ridership are imperative in reaching our state climate goals and decreasing climate change globally. If structured equitably, these measures can also redress past transportation harms and avoid burdening already struggling families. 

One of the best ways to mitigate harm to lower-income drivers is by capping the amount of money low-income families will pay in new tolls. MTC has proposed monthly caps on toll expenditures where households earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level — $62,400 for a family of four — only pay a maximum of $30 a month, while households at 200-300% of the federal poverty level would only pay a $60 maximum per month. 

Additionally, highway tolls could result in a large increase in the use of local streets. While this model states that equity priority communities — Census tracts with a significant concentration of underserved populations, including people of color and households with low incomes — would not be disproportionately impacted, we remain cautious that the increase in vehicle miles traveled on local streets doesn’t disproportionately impact communities already burdened by pollution. 

Equity includes ensuring that all regions of the Bay Area benefit from the money raised through tolling. Therefore, it is concerning that, in the highway tolling option being studied by MTC, the North Bay would only get 6% of the revenue from regional tolling for transit, local roads, and reparative infrastructure (investments in highway-adjacent low-income communities, such as urban greening and highway pedestrian crossings). We are all one region, so re-investment should not be exclusively tied to the percentage of county-generated revenue but allocated with the need and the importance of regional connectivity in mind. 

All-lane tolling must also be equitable in how revenues are spent. MTC has proposed that 50% of the revenue from all-lane tolling will go to transit improvements, while 30% will go to roadway improvements and 15% to ‘reparative community investments.’ Since low-income and marginalized communities disproportionately use transit and have been harmed by past transportation decisions, the expenditures from all-lane tolling as proposed are progressive and would be an important step toward a more equitable transportation system.

Next steps for tolling

In a November 2024 policy advisory council meeting, MTC staff stated that while they are not saying one specific policy is better than another, they recommend that for Plan Bay 2050+, MTC should maintain the highway all-lane tolling option as a strategy in the plan and update it with the “latest strategy specifics to better balance tradeoffs between mobility, environmental, and equity outcomes.” In its upcoming implementation plan, MTC will identify actions to address some of the challenges mentioned in this blog.  

While potential implementation of these tolling or user fee options would not start until 2035, MTC will be giving recommendations and an implementation roadmap during the fall and winter of 2024 and 2025, so this is a vital time for Transform to weigh in. We have been selected to be part of a diverse group of stakeholders participating in this process and have consistently reiterated the importance of equity in all tolling policy recommendations. 

It’s critical to move forward on all-lane tolling, but Transform remains committed to ensuring an equitable solution moves forward. 

The Train Has Gone Off the Tracks: People Are Speaking Up but MTC Is not Listening

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After SB 1031, a bill to fund Bay Area transit, was withdrawn, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) set up a special select committee to craft a regional transit measure that could gain wide support. The commission meets monthly through October to set up a framework for a new funding bill to be sent to the legislature at the start of the 2025 session. 

On September 23, 2024, MTC held a meeting of the Transportation Revenue Measure Select Committee that should have produced a near-final version of the measure for ratification in October. Unfortunately, the meeting ended without consensus. While all members agreed that transit desperately needs to be funded, how exactly it should be funded has been up for debate. We understand the challenge of bringing together many diverse stakeholders with sometimes opposing interests, but it’s a challenge MTC must meet.

Contentious MTC meeting

At the September select committee meeting, members were asked to vote on two different scenarios that have been continually refined at each of the previous meetings. The Core scenario — which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties — has an opt-in for the other counties and is funded through a sales tax. The Hybrid Scenario (formerly the Go Big Scenario) includes all nine counties and aims to sustain current service levels and close operator-reported deficits with funding from a ½ cent sales tax combined with a payroll tax. 

Disagreements came to a head as select committee members were asked to express their support for the scenarios through a gradient of agreement: 1 — strongly agree, 2 — have some reservations but agree, 3 — neutral but strong reservations, 4 — will go along but have strong reservations, or  5 — strongly disagree. The tallied vote showed virtually a tie between the two scenarios, with both scenarios around 3.8. This score reflects weak support, and many commissioners advocated for a third option that was not brought up for a vote: the Hunger Games scenario. That option would largely remove MTC from the picture, leaving individual counties and transit agencies to run their own, sometimes competing, funding measures. This level of disagreement further illustrates the deadlock on the committee on how to save our failing transit systems.

Turning a deaf ear to the public — and MTC’s charter

Which scenario the MTC special select committee will ultimately choose to save our transit systems is unclear, but what is clear is that many commissioners are out of step with what the community is demanding. The committee voted on the scenarios before public comments were even made, so their votes weren’t influenced by public input. In fact, during public comments, many commissioners left the room. 

In explaining his vote, one commissioner, who voted “strongly disagree” for both scenarios, stated that while he wants to find a solution, he is not optimistic, and he doesn’t believe MTC is even the right place to create a solution to fund our transit system. However, according to California law, the role of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is “to provide comprehensive regional transportation planning for the region comprised of the City and County of San Francisco and the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.”(emphasis added). It’s precisely MTC’s primary role to solve this issue, so if MTC is not the right arena for this, then who is?

Regressive funding sources

Advocacy groups and many members of the public have called for a solution that doesn’t add to the financial burden that disenfranchised groups face. Yet many MTC commissioners have continued to push for scenarios funded either completely or mostly by regressive taxes such as a sales tax. 

Progressive revenue sources like parcel and payroll taxes have strong community support. The committee removed the parcel tax because of concerns about overusing it, since it is a potential funding source for the housing bond. 

The business community spoke up fervently against a negligible 0.18% payroll tax, claiming that it sent a bad message to Bay Area businesses. The commission seemed very concerned about the business community’s opposition to a payroll tax, and many commissioners spoke up in agreement with the business community’s disapproval of the payroll tax. However, many members of the public mentioned during public comment that they liked a payroll tax because they felt that businesses should pay their fair share toward the transit services they rely on.

TransForm Supports Measure B, Alameda County’s Transportation Measure

Bay Area transit is regional — we need a regional solution

Keeping our transit systems fully funded and operating reliably is a regional problem that needs a regional solution. Unfortunately, during the select committee process and especially in the September meeting, many commissioners have been focused on their county’s benefit and fairness for their county, failing to see the big picture. 

Many commissioners also continued to push for the Hunger Games scenario. However, people don’t use transit systems by county; they ride regionally. Someone might get on a bus in one county, connect to BART in another county, and then take MUNI or Caltrain at the other end. A failure of any of our transit systems would be catastrophic for the whole region, not just one county, so we need to solve this problem together.  

In addition, multiple measures introduce multiple points of failure. We already fund big capital projects regionally, so we should be able to fund transit operations regionally.

Speak up for public transit

MTC’s October special select committee meeting will decide on the final solution to submit to the legislature. We need you to call in and tell MTC commissioners that they need to get the train back on the tracks. Ask them to listen to the voices of the people who will vote for the measure and of transit riders.

No one wants Bay Area transit systems to fail or be forced into drastic service cuts. The MTC must put forth a regional scenario that covers the deficit, is long-term, and is funded by mostly progressive revenue sources. Transform and our allies at Voices for Public Transit are working hard to support this scenario. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has come to meetings and spoken out. While the Hybrid (formerly Go Big) scenario is not the perfect option, it is a regional solution that would save transit operations, and you are the reason it is still being considered. Please come out one more time on October 21. Help us win approval for a regional solution.

Transform and Allies Call Out Plan to Streamline Highway 37 Widening

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In late August, Transform joined with 24 environmental, transportation, and other advocacy organizations to send a letter to California Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire opposing a plan to amend a 2023 law. The law provided special streamlining privileges under California’s endangered species laws to certain clean energy and water infrastructure projects. This year’s amendment would have extended those special streamlining privileges to a project to widen State Route 37 between Vallejo and State Route 121 in Sonoma County, which will have significant impacts on a sensitive salt marsh habitat. 

SR 37 does often experience traffic congestion, but decades of research and lived experience have proven that adding lanes does not solve congestion. And, at its core, the proposal to widen the highway is the wrong solution to a very complicated but completely different problem.

How to drown $500 million

The project to add lanes to SR 37 is described as “interim.” That’s because the $500 million the state proposes spending to add capacity to this highway segment, which is right at sea level and is regularly inundated during king tides, will likely be underwater due to climate change within 15 years. The long-term proposal is to raise the roadbed to accommodate future sea level rise, a much more expensive and involved undertaking.

The irony of building additional lanes that will increase driving, thus increasing greenhouse gas emissions, on a roadway that is likely to be submerged by climate change appears to be lost on planners.

Real problems—real solutions

The reason for the congestion on SR 37 is rooted in economics as much as transportation policy. Sonoma County has a dearth of affordable housing, so many of the people who work in its vineyards and tourist industry live in more affordable communities in Solano County. Those workers must drive to their jobs in Sonoma County towns and cities because of a lack of public transportation options.

Widening the highway is an acceptance of an unacceptable status quo, where working-class people are forced into long, expensive commutes.

The solution is two-fold. Sonoma County must build more housing, particularly more affordable housing, so employees have the opportunity to live closer to their places of work. This is a long-term project that won’t be easy, but it’s essential.

The second solution is to provide more frequent and reliable transit options between Solano and Sonoma cities. This could be accomplished fairly quickly. In our letter, we recommend tolling on the existing lanes of SR 37. The revenue this generates could support expanded public transportation. The tolling scheme could be designed to minimize the cost to low-income households and would cost substantially less than $500 million to implement. 

Over the long term, passenger rail is planned for this corridor to connect to the Capitol Corridor service between Sacramento and the Bay Area, which will provide another alternative to driving in the future.

Facing the realities of climate change

Highway expansion should no longer be a default solution to congestion. In congested corridors like Highway 37, widening will only serve to increase driving and ultimately worsen congestion. Choosing to invest in alternative solutions will not be easy; California has entrenched administrative structures and industries built around expanding highways, so change must include just transitions for workers and businesses. 

But, despite the challenge, we must change the way we think about transportation planning. Our freeway mentality has driven us to the brink of climate catastrophe. A future focused on infill housing development, housing affordability, and a broad array of low- and no-carbon transportation options is the only way to move toward a more stable and liveable planet.

Read the full letter.

Sign on Letter_ Oppose Backdoor Streamlining for HW 37Download

Losing SB 1031: Setback for Regional Transportation Measure, Not the End

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Tell Your Representatives: Commit to Funding Transit, not Highways, with Regional Funding Measure

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