Since World War II, Sacramento has been running its most expensive experiment: designing the entire city around the private automobile, favoring tax-unproductive land uses, and building public infrastructure without budgeting for its long-term upkeep.

What you’ll see: streetcar lines replaced by freeways, jaywalking banned, parking mandates imposed, single-family zoning locked in, and wave after wave of suburban subdivisions approved across the county from 1900 through 2024 — then the costs. Sacramento now carries a $419 million unfunded pavement repair backlog, holds the highest per-capita car-crash fatality rate of any large California city, and has an income-normalized rental market more expensive than New York City.

Strong Towns argues the post-war suburban development pattern was a massive bet that did not pay off, and that we need to re-learn how cities were traditionally built. Help us end the suburban experiment in Sacramento by joining Strong SacTown, a local conversation in the national movement. We have in-person events and working group meetings every month, hundreds of members across every council district, and we’re looking forward to growing in 2026!

Sources

Part 1: The Experiment

• Filed Subdivision Maps, Sacramento County. Sacramento County Open Data, 2025. — Primary geographic dataset for the animation: all approved subdivision applications since 1900.
• K Street historic photographs, used to establish roughly when Sacramento streets were paved with asphalt. Center for Sacramento History.
  • ca. 1910 — Street still dirt.
  • ca. 1920 — Street paved and striped.
• Ordinance Number 304. City of Sacramento, 1926. (archived) — Jaywalking prohibited.
• Sacramento’s Streetcars. William Burg, Arcadia Publishing, 2006 (p. 208). — Documents the 1946 dismantling of Sacramento’s streetcar network; system maps and route descriptions.
• Ordinance Number 1483. City of Sacramento, 1950 (p. 7). (archived) — Established minimum parking requirements, mandating car parking to be built for nearly all buildings.
• Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Wikipedia. — Federal funding that financed Sacramento’s freeway construction.
• Historic aerial imagery, 1947–1973. USGS Earth Explorer. — Used to determine when each freeway segment in Sacramento County was constructed.
• Ordinance Number 1963. City of Sacramento, 1962. (archived) — Establishment of R-1 single-family zoning, locking in low-density suburban development.
• Efficient Street To Drivers, Noisy Peril To Residents. The Sacramento Bee, October 22, 1978 (p. 34). — Documents the human cost of downtown one-way street conversions: residents describe noise and danger, small business owners report declining sales, while city planners call the conversions a success for suburban commuters.

Part 2: The Results

• SMUD Reports Near Daily Vehicle Crashes Involving Utility Equipment. FOX40, 2025. — Near-daily crashes into power poles cost SMUD ratepayers ~$15,000 per pole.
• Taking the Financial Sting out of Owning a Car in California. ABC10, 2023. — California drivers pay an average of $14,390 per year on car ownership.
• Sacramento 2025 Pavement Condition Report. City of Sacramento Department of Public Works, 2025. — City carries a $419 million unfunded pavement repair backlog, up 41% in two years.
• Sacramento Pays $11 Million to Settle Fatal Crosswalk Crash. The Associated Press, 2021. — Settlement for a fatal crash near an elementary school, illustrating the municipal cost of dangerous street design.
• 32 People Died in Sacramento Car Crashes in 2025. At a Vigil, Mourners Remember. The Sacramento Bee, 2025. — Ongoing toll of preventable traffic fatalities.
• Sacramento Has Highest Fatality Rate in CA. The Sacramento Bee, 2024. — Sacramento leads large California cities in car crash deaths per capita.
• Sacramento Apartment Rental Market More Expensive Than New York and D.C., Report Says. The Sacramento Bee, 2021. — Nearly half of Sacramento households cannot afford a typical apartment.
• Starter-Home Sales Climb 5%, But Prices Stay in Check as Inventory Hits 9-Year High. Redfin News, 2025. — Median starter home in Sacramento now $437,000.
• How to Combat the Loneliness Epidemic. Sacramento County, 2024. — Sprawl and car dependency cited as contributors to social isolation.

Audio

• KFBK (AM) unidentified broadcast. KFBK, 1938. Center for Sacramento History. — Music used for opening.
• KFBK (AM) broadcast on the atomic bomb. KFBK, ca. 1945–1949. Center for Sacramento History. — Sacramento-specific commercial break (Schwalbe).
• Old Sacramento: As it Was, As it Is, As it Could Be. Dunbar Beck, Joseph Baird, The Sacramento Bee, and KFBK Radio, 1958. Center for Sacramento History (Accession No. 1982/078/1867; CSH 9). — Source for quote: “Consigned to oblivion by an octopus-like freeway, it [Old Sacramento] would attract no one.”
• Cement Octopus, Malvina Reynolds, 1964. (lyrics) — Source for quote: “Freeway misery.”
• KOVR TV Daily News Reel, September 25. KOVR, 1967. Center for Sacramento History. — Source for quotes: “Here is Sacramento. As bad as some, but far better than most, and still striving.” and “Sacramento needs this development if the downtown area is going to go ahead, it has to be done.”
• Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Live Performance, Jazz Camp. Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, Center for Sacramento History (MS0007), 1986. — Live jazz.
• Rancho Cordova breaks ground on Rio Del Oro development, largest in city’s history. ABC10, 2020. — Source for quote: “Rancho Cordova just broke ground. This new development spans 3800 acres.”
• A massive new housing project in Natomas is sparking a fierce debate over growth versus preservation. ABC10, 2025. — Source for quote: “A massive new housing project in Natomas…”

Tools Used

The following tools were instrumental in the creation of this animation:

• QGIS – for preparing geospatial data for Blender’s consumption.
• Krita – overlay graphics.
• Blender – animation/compositing.
• Ardour – soundtrack, and for composing the piano track at the end.