What’s the roadblock? Oh, of course, corporate heavy-handedness against the government:

This year, a former Caltrans executive said she was demoted after raising concerns about a repaving project that surreptitiously widened 3½ miles of the freeway where the toll lanes were being proposed. That project removed bushes and paved the median, creating more space for lanes. State regulations demand environmental analysis, a public airing and mitigation before major freeway widening, but none of that occurred.

Surprise surprise!

Man that headline is one beautiful bud of a pushing, expanding blossom of a choked metaphor. (tldr, so far)