Environmentalists sue to block California highway expansion

(CN) — Three environmental advocacy groups on Thursday sued the California Department of Transportation to halt a planned expansion of the Interstate 80 highway through the Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area between Davis and Sacramento in Northern California.

The Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Planning and Conservation League petitioned in Alameda County Superior Court, claiming that the widening of the highway would impede the state’s climate objectives, worsen air pollution in vulnerable communities and degrade valuable habitats without ultimately reducing traffic congestion. 

"Highway expansions are not viable long-term solutions to congestion," the nonprofits claim. "While building more lanes may briefly increase average travel speeds and temporarily lessen traffic congestion, that very fact induces more driving by tempting more drivers onto the road."

According to organizations, Caltrans' Environmental Impact Report in support of the $465 million project fails to account for, or to mitigate the detrimental effect the expansion will have on the wilderness area that the highway bisects in terms of noise, light and construction, among other impacts.

The groups accuse Caltrans of rushing the project through, rather than properly analyzing, disclosing and mitigating its full impacts, because the agency is facing a September 30, 2024 deadline to get it approved and under contract if it wants access to $85.9 million in federal grant funding.

The groups argue in their petition that Caltrans did not fully disclose and adequately analyze the project’s impacts, because the environmental impact report relied on flawed modeling that led to significant undercounts of vehicle miles traveled, traffic impacts, greenhouse gas emissions, air quality and energy impacts.

They also claim — citing a Politico story about a Caltrans whistleblower who says she was demoted because of her objections to the project — that the agency improperly chopped the expansion project into two pieces to use funding in illegitimate ways and obscure environmental impacts.

“This is a classic example of Caltrans hiding the ball about the true impacts of these projects,” said Carter Rubin, director of state transportation advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It’s time for Caltrans to own up. After decades of expanding our freeway system, they’ve only made traffic worse. Californians deserve real solutions for getting out of traffic, not more false hope from Caltrans.”

Representatives of Caltrans didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.

The groups claims eight separate violations of the California Environmental Quality Act and seeks a court order vacating Caltrans environmental impact report.

The nonprofits are represented by John Rose and Aruna Prabhala of the Center for Biological Diversity and by Alexander Hall and Michael Wall of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Follow @edpettersson

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