What Will L.A.’s Regional Connector Bring Us?

A Two-Mile Rail Tunnel Could Help California Recapture Its Optimism—If It’s Not Too Late

What will the Regional Connector bring us? A new transformation in California life? Or has it arrived too late to change much of anything?

The June 16 opening of a two-mile rail tunnel under downtown Los Angeles might not seem like a big deal. But its potential—and its timing—mark a pivotal moment for the future of transportation.

L.A. is opening the smartest and most significant piece of its 21st-century Metro rail system at a moment of maximum peril for public transit, both nationally and statewide. The pandemic, along with work-from-home policies and …

by Joe Mathews | June 13, 2023

Will California Get SMART About Mass Transit?

A New Train Could Help Battle Climate Change, Serve Expanding Metro Areas, and Create a Northern California Mega-Region

by Joe Mathews | September 6, 2022

If this train is so SMART, why can’t I find it?

That’s the question I asked myself in Larkspur, in Marin County, after arriving on the ferry from San Francisco one …

Build a Bullet Train? California Can’t Even Build a One-Mile Rail Tunnel in San Francisco

The Golden State Is Bad at Big Projects, and Even Worse at the Little Ones

by Joe Mathews | April 1, 2019

How is California ever going to finish its high-speed rail project when it still can’t finish San Francisco’s Downtown Rail Extension?

I can’t read Gavin Newsom’s mind, much less understand what …

Why Building More Freeways Makes Traffic Worse, Not Better

To Ease L.A. Gridlock, We Need Improved Mass Transit and Smart Urban Planning

By Jerry Nickelsburg | August 1, 2017

In 1865, British economist William Stanley Jevons wrote an influential essay entitled “The Coal Question.” Today his insights are interesting to me not as they relate to coal, but rather …

The Next Great California Bridge Should Span the High Desert

Infrastructure Linking Palmdale and Victorville Could Boost L.A.—and All of North America

By Joe Mathews | July 10, 2017

What’s the fastest way to change California?

Assuming you don’t have the power to set off a major earthquake, your best bet would be to connect the two small desert cities …

Golden Gate Bridge Train Service? It’s Time to Get on Board

California's Iconic Span Needs Rail Transit, Both for Symbolism and for Sonoma's Sake

By Joe Mathews | April 6, 2017

If California is as serious about public transit as its urban leaders claim, why isn’t there a commuter rail service running over the Golden Gate Bridge?

There’s no good reason why …

california transportation