Sacramento leaders are facing a choice: Help or hurt the climate with transportation dollars

When it comes to climate change, the Sacramento region is facing Robert Frost’s metaphorical fork in the road. Our leaders have the opportunity to make some wise decisions, or if stuck in the past, to take the perilous road currently more traveled.

At a meeting of the Sacramento Transportation Authority on December 12, our local leaders will have a chance to get it right, or to continue careening toward disaster.

Science tells us that we, along with the rest of the planet, remain far short of where we need to be to address the climate emergency. According to the American Lung Association, Sacramento’s air quality is among the worst in the nation, and a recent Beacon Economics report tells us that people are driving more and there are more cars and SUVs on California’s roads than ever. Transportation planning is the key to meeting climate goals.

On Thursday, the Authority will consider a 2020 ballot measure for a countywide sales tax hike which, if passed, will raise billions of dollars for transportation needs over the next 30-40 years. The Authority will consider how to spend that money. Options range from spending on enhancing mass transit, building bike paths and walkways, and ensuring safety through pavement repairs and street design. The funds can also be spent on new roads and sprawl-inducing freeway expansions that are certain to exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Those of us paying closest attention to the climate threat see this fork in the road as an urgent test of leadership. Nearly all of the region’s elected officials, many of whom sit on the Authority, agree that climate change is real and human-caused. But what will they do when faced with specific, project-by-project decisions that affect our future well-being?

Our leaders should start with the City of Sacramento data that reveals that over half of Sacramento’s greenhouse gas emissions result from gas-fueled transportation.

Most of us in the region drive alone most of the time, according to a recent Valley Vision survey. Transportation experts like the Victoria Transport Policy Institute have shown that building more roads encourages more people to drive and is fiscally unsustainable. The Authority’s priorities will determine whether we take the correct road or make it impossible to meet our climate goals.

Today’s planning decisions must shift us away from the relentless expansion of roadway capacity, toward a sustainable multi-modal transportation model. In short, our community must invest now in transportation solutions that enable people to do what is right for our future.

The Commission on Climate Change, created by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and West Sacramento Mayor Chris Cabaldon, recently adopted a set of transportation priorities designed to reach Carbon Zero no later than 2045. These goals include investment in neighborhoods to support walking and biking; improving transit and shared mobility; and developing an infrastructure that supports electric vehicles.

Project selection by the Authority is a clear test of whether our leaders take climate change seriously. Do we earmark the huge new potential revenues for alternative forms of transportation that will lead to reduced emissions? Or do we continue the age-old pattern that has brought the planet to the brink of extinction?

The sales tax measure will require approval by two-thirds of the voters. This is a steep climb and won’t be achieved by emphasizing enormous new highway projects that lead to more cost and harm to the environment. Support can only be achieved by investing in alternatives while providing for prudent maintenance of our existing roadways.

This isn’t about taking away people’s cars. It is about planning, common sense, and sustainable priorities.

Clean, efficient transportation will combat climate change, improve air quality, reduce congestion, enhance safety, and improve access and affordability. We can say goodbye to our Carbon Zero goal if the Authority fails to make the right choices. Borrowing from Frost, the Authority’s actions on Thursday will make “all the difference.”