Highways are required to connect them. This pattern of urban sprawl development imposes considerable costs on all of us, though the costs are often hidden. The dependence on the car and the long commute and the traditional belief that building more roads alleviates rather than compound the problems of sprawl are increasingly being questioned. Evidence is mounting that the sprawl patterns, with their innate geometric and density inefficiencies have become unaffordable. A huge number of Californians now spend an hour or more per day in their car.
Road rage is on the rise.
The average Californian spends one dollar out of every five on buying, maintaining and insuring their cars. Housing requiring a car to reach home can never be affordable. Highway and automobile subsidies fueling urban sprawl are still in place today. Of course people can't leave their cars when the systems are designed to require a car. In LA, the Santa Clarita line of their Metrolink system carried about 900 passengers a day between the San Fernando Valley and Downtown.