Can we still build great infrastructure in California? As the state and Los Angeles face an ongoing housing crisis, as well as traffic jams that make you wish you could still work from home every day, this question has rapidly increasing relevance. Unfortunately, the answer seems to be either “no” or “yes, but very slowly.”

As an urban planner working in infrastructure development and the former chief innovation officer for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro), I am often asked why it takes so long to build anything here. There are many reasons, but one of them is that litigation regarding the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) can prolong and raise the cost of projects. CEQA, which was signed into law by Ronald Reagan, was intended to mitigate environmental impacts from new projects. However, it has been broadened to include any project requiring government approval, which is any major development in the state, and has often been abused by those opposing new projects as a mechanism for delay and even cancellation. Virtually every California governor has attempted to reform CEQA, but without lasting success.

A recent ruling in the Court of Appeals about Los Angeles Parks Alliance v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority only exacerbates this problem. The project in this case is a proposed gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium (full disclosure: I helped shepherd this project when I was with Metro). The project is privately funded and would provide a way around Dodger Stadium’s notorious traffic jams. It would also be a unique tourist attraction with sweeping views, provide an iconic piece of infrastructure for the city of Los Angeles, and open up new areas for critical housing development.

The court ruled Metro must study, in detail, retrofitting buildings along the proposed gondola route to block temporary construction noise. Retrofitting is costly, disruptive and beyond the CEQA standard for short-term impacts. Noise from construction sites can be bothersome, but as Fran Lebowitz famously said, “Pretend it’s a city.” Urban environments are noisy. Fortunately, most cities and counties in California already have ordinances in place to ensure residents and businesses are protected from excessive construction noise. It is also likely, as Metro argued, that retrofitting would generate more noise and be more disruptive than the temporary exterior construction noise.

The court’s ruling was not helpful for the gondola project, but it poses a much greater problem for future housing and transportation projects by setting a precedent that could further slow construction. The ruling will effectively prevent lead agencies from using their expertise or common sense to reject unrealistic mitigation measures pushed by people attempting to misuse the CEQA process. It will require agencies to provide an analysis of every proposed mitigation measure — even those that are clearly impractical — which has never been previously required under CEQA. Opponents of any future construction project may use this decision to pressure lead agencies into spending significant time and resources gathering detailed data or implementing expensive retrofitting measures, ultimately delaying critically needed projects throughout California.

Adding more studies and requirements onto already burdened construction projects — especially those that reduce our dependence on cars, create opportunities for new housing and provide an alternative to traffic congestion — is the opposite of progress. If California is going to fix its environmental, transportation and housing challenges, more serious CEQA reform, such as those proposed here, is needed and fast. Fortunately, Gov. Newsom is recognizing this issue along with others in the legislature. It may be challenging to rally Californians around environmental policy reform, but if we don’t do it now, we will be suffering from the impacts for many decades to come.

Joshua Schank is a partner with InfraStrategies, a transportation consulting firm based in Southern California, and a senior fellow at the UCLA Institute for Transportation Studies.