Abstract

The article comments on the transportation system of California. California has a superb transportation system. The 171,000 miles of public access highways provide both feeder and arterial systems throughout the state and allow rail, air and port facilities to operate more efficiently. Approximately 97 percent of the passenger miles and more than 80 percent of the ton-miles of freight are transported by autos, trucks and buses using this highway system. But the system is aging. Transportation's role in economic development is frequently misinterpreted. Geographers and historians have contributed to this belief by showing how metropolitan areas have developed from concentric settlements near ports, then expanded radially in sectors along railroads and freeways resulting in the multinucleated metropolis made possible by automobility. Planned industrial parks and shopping centers alongside California freeways support this hypothesis. However, there are other processes at work. Federally aided home loan financing and tax incentives for homeownership have been more important than freeways in encouraging suburbanization. Technological change, economies of scale, and agglomeration benefits are more important factors for industry than accessibility. Improved management of transportation systems allows more effective use of existing systems and reduces the need for new facilities. Transportation is not itself a goal. Rather, it is a means of attaining societal goals. When transportation is erroneously regarded as an end in itself, facilities are emphasized rather than the efficient provision of services.