If anything has become clear during the months since voters approved a $19.9 billion transportation bond last November, it's that freeways are still king. The first $4.5 billion allocated by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) was aimed solely at roads, mostly for expanding freeway capacity. Another $3 billion for pavement — including $1 billion for Highway 99 — is scheduled for allocation by June.

Some of the most intense growth battles of the last 20 years have involved development of classrooms, laboratories, housing and other facilities by the University of California (UC). Local government representatives and residents in Davis, Berkeley, Santa Barbara County and elsewhere have complained that UC shoves development down their throats without considering local impacts or desires. >>read more

Two ballot measures approved by Santa Cruz voters in November appear to have further strained the already difficult relationship between the city and the University of California. >>read more

Lake Berryessa, a 30-square-mile federal reservoir in the hills northeast of the more famous Napa Valley, may be California's most secret lake. But a new land use and management plan could change that by promoting a more high-end tourist activity than the lake has seen in the past. >>read more

A plan to build housing for faculty and staff members at Sonoma State University appears to have widespread community support except for one detail: The university's chosen location is a greenbelt outside of the City of Rohnert Park's politically popular urban growth boundary. >>read more

As business at the state's shipping ports continues to grow rapidly, the movement of freight across urban areas has become a priority for the Schwarzenegger administration and local transportation planners. >>read more

A scandal involving development of a hub for cargo carrier DHL has raised questions about reuse of the March Air Force Base in western Riverside County. >>read more

Fontana has broken ground on a large new library that, city officials and library boosters say, could become a building block of downtown revitalization. At 93,000 square feet, the Fontana Library and Resource/Technology Center will be more than four times the size of any existing facility in the San Bernardino County-run library system. >>read more

Construction is scheduled to begin during the first half of 2006 on what will be, for a short while anyway, the tallest courthouse in California. The federal courthouse at Broadway and State Street in downtown San Diego will reach 22 stories - 407 feet - into the sky. >>read more

The City of Oceanside, which has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, is preparing for a major civic improvement: rehabilitation of a 465-acre former sand quarry for parkland and public buildings. However, financing for the project - estimated to cost more than $100 million over 25 years - is far from certain. >>read more