Editing California (section)

====Highways====
California's vast terrain is connected by [[California Freeway and Expressway System|an extensive system]] of [[controlled-access highways]] ('freeways'), [[limited-access road]]s ('expressways'), and [[State highways in California|highways]]. California is known for its [[car culture]], giving California's cities a reputation for severe [[traffic congestion]]. Construction and maintenance of state roads and statewide transportation planning are primarily the responsibility of the [[California Department of Transportation]], nicknamed "Caltrans". The rapidly growing population of the state is straining all of its transportation networks, and California has some of the worst roads in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mieszkowski |first=Katharine |date=September 2, 2010 |title=California Is Tops in Worst Roads—Pulse of the Bay |url=http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/pulse-of-the-bay/read-while-you-are-waiting-traffic-clear |access-date=April 22, 2011 |publisher=The Bay Citizen |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722041103/http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/pulse-of-the-bay/read-while-you-are-waiting-traffic-clear/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 9, 2007 |title=A bridge too far gone |newspaper=The Economist |url=http://www.economist.com/node/9621456}}</ref> The [[Reason Foundation]]'s 19th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems ranked California's highways the third-worst of any state, with Alaska second, and Rhode Island first.<ref>{{Cite web |title=19th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems (1984–2008) |url=http://reason.org/files/19th_annual_highway_report.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://reason.org/files/19th_annual_highway_report.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |website=Reason.org}}</ref>

[[File:San Francisco Bay Ferry Hydrus May 2017 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|[[San Francisco Bay Ferry]] is a public [[water taxi]] system in the [[Bay Area]].]]

The state has been a pioneer in road construction. One of the state's more visible landmarks, the [[Golden Gate Bridge]], was the [[List of longest suspension bridge spans|longest suspension bridge main span]] in the world at {{convert|4200|ft|m}} between 1937 (when it opened) and 1964. With its orange paint and panoramic views of the bay, this highway bridge is a popular tourist attraction and also accommodates pedestrians and bicyclists. The [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]] (often abbreviated the "Bay Bridge"), completed in 1936, transports about 280,000 vehicles per day on two-decks. Its two sections meet at [[Yerba Buena Island]] through the world's largest diameter transportation bore tunnel, at {{convert|76|ft}} wide by {{convert|58|ft}} high.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The San Francisco—Oakland Bay Bridge Facts at a glance |url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/tollbridge/SFOBB/Sfobbfacts.html |access-date=April 5, 2012 |publisher=[[California Department of Transportation]]}}</ref> The [[Arroyo Seco Parkway]], connecting Los Angeles and [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], opened in 1940 as the first freeway in the Western United States.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pool |first=Bob |date=June 25, 2010 |title=Pasadena Freeway getting a new look and a new name |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-25-la-me-parkway-20100625-story.html |access-date=April 5, 2012}}</ref> It was later extended south to the [[Four Level Interchange]] in downtown Los Angeles, regarded as the first [[stack interchange]] ever built.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 22, 2011 |title=L.A.'s Famous Four-Level Freeway Interchange, 'The Stack', Turns 58 |url=http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/history/la-as-subject/navigating-the-stack-the-four-level-turns-58.html |access-date=April 5, 2012 |publisher=[[KCET]]}}</ref>

The [[California Highway Patrol]] is the largest statewide police agency in the United States in employment with more than 10,000 employees. They are responsible for providing any police-sanctioned service to anyone on California's state-maintained highways and on state property.

By the end of 2021, 30,610,058 people in California held a [[California Department of Motor Vehicles]]-issued [[driver's license]]s or [[Identity documents in the United States|state identification card]], and there were 36,229,205 [[Vehicle registration|registered vehicles]], including 25,643,076 automobiles, 853,368 motorcycles, 8,981,787 trucks and trailers, and 121,716 miscellaneous vehicles (including historical vehicles and farm equipment).<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=State of California—Department of Motor Vehicles|title=Statistics for Publication, January through December 2021|url=https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/department-of-motor-vehicles-statistics-pdf/}}</ref>