The Highway 50 expansion that would include added lanes between Sunrise Blvd and Watt Ave has come to a halt as officials are waiting until a study of how the expansion will contribute to global warming can be completed. The State Department of Transportation announced that it will not argue the Sacramento court ruling that the agency completed an incomplete environmental review for this long awaited project.

Commuters along the steadily growing Hwy 50 corridor can expect to wait until at least 2014 for a little more room on the road, if the project is started at all.

The Highway already has carpool lanes between Sunrise Blvd. and El Dorado Hills. Caltrans has talked of continuing the carpool lanes into downtown Sacramento. Community members opposing this decision argue that the added carpool lanes would encourage people to buddy up and carpool- lessening the total amount of cars on the road and being less destructive to the environment.

The Environmental Council of Sacramento and Neighbors Advocating Sustainable Transportation say that adding new lanes would encourage greater car use  and have challenged Caltrans to prove otherwise.

The ruling by Judge Frawley decided that the California Environmental Quality Act requires Caltrans to complete a more in depth study of the environmental repercussions.  He deemed that in order to comply with the current laws, Caltrans must research the benefit of more transit, including buses and light rail as an alternative.  The Governor’s Office has asked the state Air Resources Board to create a series of guidelines by next year for agencies like Caltrans on how to conduct greenhouse gas emissions studies.

The ruling is limited to this one project on Hwy 50, but it does offer an idea of the role state agencies will play as California tries to meet its requirements in reducing greenhouse gas emission to the 1990 levels by 2020.