The comparison also ignores pedestrian and bicycle master plans that both LA and Long Beach have undertaken recently, as well as a revival of Olmsted’s Los Angeles River plans. And it ignores the half-cent sales tax that LA County voters approved in 2008 to accelerate transportation projects, including five rail corridors.
Meanwhile, the Green Line extension to Somerville is years behind its legal obligations, and Massachusetts voters are contemplating further undercutting transportation funding by removing inflation adjustment for the gas tax.
True, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics relied so heavily on freeways that organizers reputedly had helicopters ready to airlift stalled cars that might cause gridlock. Boston may have had a transit and walking advantage then, but we’ve fallen behind in the past 30 years.