(FOX40.COM) — Two environmental groups based out of Northern California recently announced they filed a lawsuit against Caltrans to stop the agency from widening a portion of Interstate 80 from six to eight lanes.
On Wednesday, the Sierra Club, which is considered the oldest and largest environmental organization in the country, and the Environmental Council of Sacramento said their lawsuit accuses Caltrans of conducting an “inadequate environmental analysis” of the I-80 widening project that would expand the freeway between Davis and Sacramento through the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.
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The environmental groups say they hope the lawsuit forces Caltrans to create a valid analysis of the project’s adverse environmental impacts and implement “appropriate mitigation” of the harmful effects it believes a valid analysis would find.
“Caltrans’ Environmental Impact Report grossly underestimates increased vehicular travel, which would emit far larger quantities of greenhouse gases and air pollutants than claimed,” the ECOS said on its website.
It continues, “Caltrans violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to acknowledge that freeway widenings do not produce less congestion but, in fact, result in increased traffic, [which leads to] worse congestion and pollution due to “Induced Demand.”
The environmental groups state that “induced demand” claims that as more freeway lanes are added, traffic will disproportionately increase, which means that in 5-10 years, congestion will be worse than it was before the freeway was widened.
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Sierra Club Yolano Group Chair, Alan Pryor, said, “The Environmental Impact Report for the I-80 widening shows Caltrans is stuck in reverse when we need to move our region forward by investing in real alternatives to congestion that don’t just put more cars on our roads and smog in our air.”
ECOS’ Climate Committee Chair, Ralph Propper, added, “The Sacramento metro area is consistently in the top ten worst in the country for unhealthy ozone levels and particulate matter…The increased pollution [from the I-80 widening project] will especially impact West Sacramento residents, where almost a quarter of the population is below the poverty line.”
According to the Sierra Club and ECOS, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) also filed suit to challenge the Caltrans’ I-80 highway expansion project.
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