The mayor has never been particularly enthusiastic about the measure, which would authorize the issuance of $3.8 billion in state bonds to rebuild or expand highways, bridges, subway and rail systems, and other transportation networks.
Instead of using the money to expand highways, build schools and increase mental health services, Mr. Rowland said, it is more necessary to close what his administration estimates to be a $350 million budget deficit that could further widen before the end of the current fiscal year, on June 30.
The paradox is that the leftover spending, the so-called domestic discretionary functions, is what most Americans tend to think of as "government": border cops, college loans, cancer research, air-traffic controllers, inspectors who make sure the food on the shelves won't poison us, the construction crews that expand highways gripped by gridlock.
Also fragmenting the bear habitat are the growing urban sprawl in southern Arizona and the expanding highway systems that slice through rugged terrain, the study found.
In the 1990s, abetted by a much expanded highway system, Madrid's urbanized land area increased by 50percentt compared with 5.4percentt in the rest of the EU.
With private car ownership soaring in China, the episode seems to have stoked mounting aversion to the tolls that have grown along with the nation's rapidly expanding highway network.
If the project goes forward, it will bring an end to a classic New York battle that began more than 20 years ago, when West Side activists got together to fight the expanded highway project known as Westway.
A growing middle class, with access to an expanding highway network, ventured off on long-distance vacations that, for many boomers and their parents, would live on in a lifetime of stories.
Expanding highway capacity and overhauling busted roads with more durable and sustainable materials can prevent some traffic jams.
