Sprawl is the problem. The white voter base loves to move further and further into the fringes, but they won’t put up with the small country roads that exist there, so they demand the expansion of existing suburb-to-city roads to allow for faster commutes. They also refuse to drive into the city to shop, so they demand new suburban connector roads as well, enabling them to drive from big-box strip center to big-box strip enter without having to mix with the scum from the cities.
And they want all of these for free. “No new taxes!”
Real life doesn’t work that way. There’s no such thing as something for nothing, and nobody forced anybody to move to 258th Street and Plowed Ground Road. Those who want to live in the middle of nowhere should be willing to pay for the road to nowhere. Expecting the state as a whole to shell out the bucks for sprawl is BS. If Joe and Jane Six-Pack want all these shiny new suburban roads, they should either be willing to pay a motor fuel surtax or a toll in return. Those who use the sprawlways ought to pay for the sprawlways.
I disagree with your statement, FRiend. The white voter base is forced to move further into the fringes in order to maintain their standard of living, keep their families safe, and avoid the icky ghetto people that ruin the quality of life for everybody.
Here in the DC metro area, people sprawl all the way to the regional shooting ranges—then lobby to shut them down because they are too loud, same with small airports.