A hot-button highway expansion project hit another snag Tuesday after federal regulators told state and local officials they aren’t ready to sign off on a crucial air quality analysis.
Officials from EPA and the Federal Highway Administration declined to endorse an environmental analysis for the controversial Yolo 80 project at a hearing hosted by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the body tasked with developing the region’s transportation plan.
That’s a major blow for Caltrans and local officials, who’ve maintained the proposal to add express toll lanes on the stretch of highway from Sacramento to Davis won’t increase vehicle miles traveled and should be classified as a project that doesn’t raise air quality concerns.
Andrew Ledezma, an environmental engineer in EPA’s Region 9 air planning office, said the agency has not seen adequate public comment on the project and needs to consider public input before making a determination. FHWA officials echoed the need to see public comment and raised concerns about a planned expansion of a nearby stretch of Interstate 5, questioning whether the cumulative effects of the two projects had been considered.
