For more than two decades, the Los Angeles area has consistently ranked No. 1 in the country for the most time-consuming commutes. Today, studies show that the average motorist in the region is delayed 72 hours a year by traffic congestion -- about double what it was 25 years ago.
If nothing is done, regional planners predict, the delay could grow by up to 80% in Los Angeles County by 2030, when the population, now 10 million, is expected to hit 12 million.
Rising construction costs and a failure to raise state and federal fuel taxes since the mid-1990s have reduced the ability of state and local government to keep pace with the transportation demands of a growing population.
The situation has become particularly acute since 2001. During the last seven years, Govs. Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with state legislators, have repeatedly diverted transportation money to help balance deficit-plagued budgets. About $5.8 billion channeled for other uses has yet to be repaid, according to the California Transportation Commission.
Transportation "should be funded by the state and federal government -- they have fallen down on the job," said Kenneth Alpern, president of the Transit Coalition, a local mass transit advocacy group. "Despite the morality of who should pay for it, L.A. County must rely on itself and the best thing is it allows us to have control over where money is spent."
Others said the spending plan for the sales tax revenue was ill-advised and would not help relieve traffic problems.
Ryan Snyder, a transportation planner in Los Angeles, said far more money should be spent on the bus system, which, in a sprawling city, has the flexibility to move a lot more people than fixed rail lines.
Brian D. Taylor, a transportation expert at UCLA, said the proposed sales tax increase raises equity questions because the burden would fall disproportionately on the poor and low-wage earners.
"By almost any measure of efficiency and equity, sales taxes do poorly compared to other options, such as tolling, raising fuel taxes or floating bonds," Taylor said. "But sales taxes have been proven politically around California and the nation as the most effective way to raise money. Voters always go along with them."
