Our government is doing much the same. There is a chunk-o-highway in Seattle called the Alaska Way viaduct, which is really just a limited access arterial (our only one), which the city wants to tear down and force commuters that use it to surface streets.
To replace the 520 bridge, with another bridge the same size that would not reduce congestion by one car, they want to implement tolls on both 520 and I-90.
Every road package they put up is laden with pork for light rail and busses, but they dont want to create any more capacity for roads ... then they are incensed when we dont pass the packages.
When they do build additional lanes, they are made into HOV lanes. Now, they are starting to charge tolls to people who want to use the HOV lanes.
A week ago the mayor did a “car free Seattle” thingy and towed away peoples cars for parking them in front of thier houses. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068016/posts
The humor in all of this, if there is any, is that we have the highest gas taxes in the nation ... and a state that says there is no money for new roads. The Tacoma-Seattle-Everett Corridor has exactly 2 routes that you can take to get from Tacoma to Everett without having to stop at a light, and those two routes (I-5 and 405/167) both will drop you down to as few as 2 lanes each way at critical junctures.
On top of all this, we have a thingy out here called the CAO (Critical Areas Ordinance) which effectively forces development into cities instead of in the counties. They want density and control of the sheeples.
Our transit system is a hub/spoke system, which means that suburb to suburb commuting is pretty much impossible on transit.
Let me tell you something, I was in Seattle doing a PhD. I did some research w/the Seattle city government and was told that they were actively taking steps to restrict parking so people would be forced to use public transportation. Now you tell me, if I want to come in from Renton or Federal Way to go to a show or a restaurant, do these people honestly think I'm going to do it by bus?? By cab?? I was floored - they want people to come in and take advantage of city offerings, but punish them for using a car to do so.
I never had a car until I moved out here to the heartland. I have never, ever, had as hard a time getting around a major city via public transportation as I did in Seattle. A 12 minute trip by car from my place to campus was 45 minutes by 2 buses, sometimes 3 if I was trying to avoid long walks to bus stops in bad weather.
Seattle is a beautiful town in many ways, but the transportation there is terrible. It is the one city which would have forced me to buy a car had I stayed after grad school.