🚀 go-pugleaf

No, for all the reasons everyone else mentioned below.  And take this into
consideration as well:  While I agree that fossil fuels will either
eventually run out or become too expensive to use on the same scale we use
now, technology will come up with better, less limited and cleaner fuels.
Thankfully we should see cars that run on cleaner gas, hybrids, and even
electrical or solar energy in the next 20-40 years.

This will remove the air pollution argument against cars.  Urban sprawl
arguments may remain but I don't think we will ever be able to stop people
from wanting to live in low density areas.  Most likely we will see an
increase in commuter rail systems that do effectively transport people from
suburb to suburb but LRT will be shown to be a failure in all but the most
dense of areas.  Transit will be given its chance to go it alone over the
next 10-20 years but even then it will show its inability to solve the
problem as BART is beginning to show now.  Californians will learn that
strategic and massive investments in all forms of transportation where they
best make sense is the only answer.  We will continue to see a combination
of low and high density developments--the ratio will depend on the free
market (people's choice of where they want to live).  It may not be popular
but I think fairly low density will win.   Even so, in 50 years from now,
California will continue to have massive amounts of open space left.  I
would favor preserving large tracts of land as permanent open space--which
would still allow for development in other areas.   Rational and pragmatic
compromises will show that everyone can win--California is a huge place.

I see political ideas and movements running in cycles.  California will
re-invest in its freeway system some day once people realize that its
neglect was one of the biggest mistakes ever made--just like we are seeing
the effects of neglecting our power plant infrastructure now.
Transportation will continue to be an increasingly important topic in
California.   Aesthetically pleasing freeways, parkways, and efficient
commuter rail systems will become a bigger part of the picture.

Don
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"Mike Donovan" <mdonovan@airswitch.net> wrote in message
news:TBXe6.394$uH6.231669@news.uswest.net...
>      Will mass transit ever become the dominant form of transportation in
> the US?
>
>
>