University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

California emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic with a renewed commitment to sustainable, functional transportation. In some ways, the pandemic itself offered a glimpse of what a system built on those goals might offer. Driving plunged during the COVID lockdowns, and congestion and pollution fell alongside it. Parking spaces were repurposed for dining, revealing the vast amount of space cities had used to store empty vehicles. Traffic was lighter, the air was cleaner, and in at least some regards the streets were livelier. Can the state keep or recapture some of these benefits going forward? If so, how?