The Fresno Bee published an article last week about an ambitious, long-range plan by the California Department of Transportation to upgrade congested and antiquated Highway 99 -- some parts of which haven't been improved for a half-century -- into a modern multi-lane freeway.

Without upgrading, high rates of population growth and traffic -- the latter projected to double in the next 20 years -- would render Highway 99 almost unusable, planners warned. The major question, however, is where the money will be found for this far-seeing plan -- especially since the state's highway fund is virtually broke, thanks in part to diversions to keep the state's deficit-plagued general fund afloat.

"It will depend, of course, on what the funding availability is, the environmental constraints, and right-of-way issues," the Fresno Bee quoted Randy Treeze, Caltrans' chief planner in Fresno.

A few days later, the Modesto Bee published an article questioning whether the University of California can open the doors of its nascent Merced campus in 2005, as now planned. Opening had been scheduled for 2004 -- former Gov. Gray Davis made it a high priority -- but with the state's budget leaking red ink, legislators pushed the date back a year, and there are strong indications that with the state facing a $14 billion deficit in 2004-05, higher education funds will take a big hit.

"You can see that, at least in the governor's eyes, they're in for another cut," state Sen. Jack Scott, chairman of the Senate higher education budget subcommittee, told the Bee. "Sometimes budget priorities are not determined between the good and the bad, but between the good and the best."

If, indeed, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans another delay in opening UC Merced, it would be a victory for common sense. Given what's happening with the budget, including higher education, it makes absolutely no sense for the state to spend many millions of dollars to open a new UC campus. The project has been a boondoggle from the onset, pushed by local land developers and their political pals, devoid of true educational purpose. Last year, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton said publicly what many in the Capitol believe privately, that he would "sell off UC Merced in a minute -- biggest boondoggle ever."

It's a great example of the edifice complex in politics. Politicians like to build new facilities because they can preside at groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Putting money into maintaining or upgrading existing facilities doesn't have nearly as much political sex appeal.

Privately, many high-ranking UC officials concur with Burton, saying the Merced campus is a waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere, but they've been overruled by a politically appointed Board of Regents.

As it happens, some of the most dilapidated and outdated sections of Highway 99 are in the immediate Merced area, just miles from the proposed UC campus, which is already hiring faculty and has a smattering of construction under way. Because of UC Merced's relatively remote location, some 60 miles from the Fresno population center, many students would be forced to commute over a highway that still has extremely dangerous grade-level crossings and is clogged with heavy truck traffic.

Here's a thought: Let's put the opening of UC Merced on indefinite hold -- perhaps it would vanish altogether -- and divert whatever money the state might spend on it into a massive, much-needed Highway 99 upgrade.

While the public benefits of the new UC Merced campus would be few (not counting the profits that nearby land developers hope to reap), the benefits of upgrading Highway 99 would be immense. The San Joaquin Valley, while experiencing a surge of population growth, is plagued with chronically high levels of unemployment, and bringing its transportation network up to snuff, and concentrating college funds on the much more efficient community college system, would pay great dividends.

How can we entertain building a new UC campus in the middle of nowhere, relatively speaking, while basic infrastructure systems such as highways and community colleges are begging for funds? It just doesn't make any sense -- except to publicity-seeking politicians and their developer friends.