The Challenge of Urban Transportation in California - eScholarship

The Challenge of Urban Transportation in California BY ELIZABETH DEAKIN AND ROBERT CERVERO A s California grows, increased travel from more households, business activity, and goods movement will surely increase greenhouse gas emissions, lead to more congestion and air pollution, and damage ecosystems and neighborhoods—unless we change the basics of travel in California. We need to take action now to deliver a sustainable transportation system that provides the mobility and accessibility necessary for a prosperous economy, and to find ways of doing so that also assure a healthy environment, social equity, and a high quality of life. Here are some ideas for managing, improving, and reworking our urban transport systems that are proven best practices and, with legislative leadership, could be more widely utilized. ➢ Elizabeth Deakin is director of the University of California Transportation Center (edeakin@berkeley.edu) and Robert Cervero is professor and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley (robertc@berkeley.edu). A C C E S S