While CalTrans says their goal is to eventually transform 46 into a four-lane divided expressway , they say it will take them until the year 2007 to complete any road improvements. Because this project, like most highway improvements, is tied up in knots due to excessive environmental regulations and slow-moving government bureaucracy. Before any road construction can begin the federal and state governments will force CalTrans to jump through a myriad of expensive and time consuming hoops, including the submission of environmental impact studies. These studies are nothing less than environmental excess placing the public at risk. The environmental studies require thorough examination of archeology, endangered animals and plants, storm water runoff and air quality impact.
Priorities are wrong when human life takes a back seat to rodents, weeds and archeological sites.
Government should do all it can to protect people first, before considering other factors. Unfortunately, common sense has become the most endangered species around. Between now and 2007, based on our current statistics, another 56 people will lose their lives on Highway 46. I will continue fighting to expedite the road projects needed to make Highway 46 safer. By pressuring CalTrans and federal and state environmental regulators, we must establish as our number one priority human life.