Metro Board opts to provide improvements to communities along 710 Freeway in lieu of roadway expansion
The effort to widen the 710 Freeway has been rejected by city officials, who instead opted to use the $750 million allocated to their project in order to improve communities bordering the same roadway.
"In one fell swoop we said we're not going to widen that freeway," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn. "But we also said doing nothing is not enough."
Metro Board of Directors held a vote Thursday afternoon, where several people, including residents living along the freeway, called in to voice their concerns with the project and offer their support in ending the planned widening. One resident spoke about how one of the busiest cargo corridors in the country impacted his family.
"I lost my in-laws to cancer," said resident Hector Ceniceros. "My mother-in-law had breast cancer. My father-inlaw to stomach cancer. Then I was diagnosed on my 50th birthday with cancer."
Blacks and Latinos make up an estimated 83% of the 1.2 million people that live along the 710 corridor.
"We know people living along this corridor have had higher incidents of cancer," said Hahn. "We know ow children have had higher incidents of upper respiratory, asthma-related illnesses. Most of that is from that freeway."
Hahn said the $750 million originally allocated for the widening project could be used to improve the quality of life for those living in the area. She pitched putting air filtration systems in local schools, a zero-emission truck program and investing in rail infrastructure to move cargo from the ports on trains instead of freeways.
"Widening this freeway and wiping out neighborhoods is not the pathway forward, and neither is the status quo," said Hahn. "We have an opportunity now to imagine something different and a better use for these funds. We should use the funding we already have set aside for this project on smarter ways to improve air quality, reduce congestion, improve mobility and address safety concerns for everyone living and traveling along this corridor."
The vote puts an end to the plan that has been in motion for the greater part of the last 20 years.
Instead, Metro officials will now have to put together a new plan to use the funding, with both short-term and long-term goals.
"Our 710 communities are really looking for some quality-of-life improvements as soon as possible ... this motion will give us the opportunity to reimagine the 710 Freeway project. It makes clear we're no longer going to widen the freeway, we're no longer going to wipe out homes and neighborhoods for a freeway project," Hahn continued.
Bryn Lindblad, Climate Resolve Deputy Director, also called into the vote, where he referred to several studies that supported the notion that widening freeways does not in fact reduce congestion, but increases the danger for drivers with more vehicles on the road.
