Six years ago, transportation planners across the U.S. watched with great interest the progress of the November 2008 elections in Los Angeles County, California, where a proposed sales tax to fund transportation projects – called Measure R – was on the ballot. Measure R passed in that election, and its proposal was implemented: a half-cent sales tax on each taxable dollar spent in Los Angeles County, used to fund specific transportation projects for the next 30 years. This month, on the 6-year anniversary of Measure R’s passage, Los Angeles County is the scene of five major highway and transit projects under construction at the same time – an unprecedented accomplishment in U.S. metropolitan areas, where “no new taxes” is the popular mantra. Professor Schofer talks about Measure R, its process and products, with David Yale, Managing Executive Officer, County-Wide Planning and Development, for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, also known as Metro