The 605 Freeway plan won’t destroy homes; has wider lanes connected to other highways – Tap on Telegram

A revised, less dramatic project to improve the 605 Freeway — much different from four years ago — will no longer seek to destroy any homes, but could add another car-carrying lane and more feeder lanes to ease congestion freeway with the 60, 5, 10 and 105 freeways. , LA Metro officials reported.

Proponents say the two biggest goals are reducing congestion and reducing the high number of accidents on the 17.4-mile stretch of freeway in eastern Los Angeles County, which carries 300,000 vehicles north and south each day.

But critics say those results increase the number of miles driven by drivers and create more air pollution and greenhouse gases.

The old design called for 380 properties — including about 300 homes, apartments and multifamily units — mostly in Downey and Santa Fe Spring that would have been razed to make way for the freeway expansion.

That plan has been abandoned, said Carolos J. Montez, project manager, during a July 16 virtual meeting about the project.

“We redesigned the project to stay within the freeway right-of-way,” he said. “It will now fit into the footprint and avoid taking residential houses.”

There is a caveat. The project may require taking bits of private property, but not “complete acquisitions,” Montez said. As an example, he cited the extension of the Washington Boulevard offframp, which may require taking some land. He said most of the land is commercial property along the entrance and exit ramps.

To understand what Metro is planning – along with Caltrans – we first need to look back at the old project that caused a huge public outcry directed at Metro for proposing to take residential property when housing is in short supply in LA County.

In fact, once the plan was scrapped, LA Metro board member Ara Najarian criticized the Metro planners who proposed it.

“Maybe it would have been better if we had thought of a way to force it into the Caltrans right-of-way earlier — rather than scaring the hell out of people,” Najarian said, according to minutes of a meeting at Subway. year.

Najarian, the board’s longest-serving member and member of the Glendale City Council, said the backlash “galvanized an anti-MTA, anti-Caltrans, anti-vehicle coalition.”

Indeed, anti-freeway voices from nonprofits and environmental groups have grown louder. One group argued that adding a carpool lane and numerous feeder lanes on other highways, or at numerous entrances and exits, would attract more vehicle traffic at a time when global warming is raising temperatures, causing heat emergencies and fuel extreme fires.

“What I’m proposing today is much better than the 300-plus home purchases. They’ve been pushed back,” said Joe Linton, editor of the transportation blog StreetsblogLA on Aug. 12, who has followed the project closely.

“It’s a big win for the community,” Linton said, noting that under the previous plan, the hardest-hit communities were more than 50 percent black, Latino and Asian.

History shows that black neighborhoods are hit hardest by freeways. An example is the 210 Freeway in Pasadena, which separated black and brown neighborhoods from the rest of the city.

The 605 Freeway project area extends from the 10 to 105 freeways and includes the cities of Norwalk, Downey, Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera, Whittier, South El Monte, El Monte, Industry, Baldwin Park and unincorporated county areas.

Linton says the project won’t destroy homes, but will remove trees that form a buffer between homes and freeway noise and pollution. “Instead of 30 feet of vegetation between you and the freeway, you’re going to lose that barrier,” he said.

He said adding miles of connecting lanes and widening single-lane ramps to two lanes will attract more vehicles that pollute the air and contribute to global warming. “Metro and Caltrans are stuck in a 1950s mentality — to keep widening all these freeways instead of thinking about how to do transportation in an era of global warming,” Linton said.

“Adding more lanes, auxiliary lanes and a carpool lane means more driving and more pollution,” he added.

Whittier City Councilman Fernando Dutra, who serves on LA Metro’s board of directors, did not say which alternative he preferred. A vote is expected in the fall or winter. He called the new project “community friendly.”

“We are no longer thinking about taking property to solve construction problems. We are now looking at redesigning the lanes, taking advantage of the right-of-way within the general parameters,” Dutra said on August 12.

He described the community around the project as cautiously optimistic about the project.

The 605 Freeway, which runs from the 405 Freeway in Seal Beach to the 210 Freeway in Irwindale, has one carpool lane in each direction, known as the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. A vehicle with two or more occupants may use the HOV lane at no cost.

But studies show that the 605 HOV lanes are gridlocked and operate at speeds below 45 mph more than 18 percent of the time. They are classified as “degraded”.

Metro is evaluating four project alternatives, and two of them involve carpool lanes (HOV lanes). Alternative 1 leaves everything as is and is called the “no construction” option.

Alternative 2 would convert HOV lanes to ExpressLanes, which can cost money to use. Two or more occupants would ride for free. But only one passenger vehicle should get a transponder and pay per use. Fares vary depending on traffic and travel speed. This is known as “congestion pricing,” which Metro uses on ExpressLanes 110 and 10 freeways.

“The reason is to find a co-worker or friend to carpool with you (for free),” Montez said. “For solo drivers to use toll lanes is based on congestion pricing. It’s a business decision you make.”

Several of the more than 100 attendees at the virtual meeting were concerned that many drivers would not be able to afford the ExpressLane and that low-income single-passenger drivers would be stuck in heavy traffic.

Similarly, Alternative 3 turns the carpool lane into a toll lane, but adds another lane—a second toll lane in each direction.

Alternative 4 retains the existing HOV lane and adds a second HOV lane in each direction.

Another goal is to add lanes that widen connections to other highways.

For example, from the 605 north, a separate connector would extend to the 10 west. Also, at 605/5, another lane – likely a carpool lane – would be added to reduce congestion and collisions caused by weaving.

At Highway 60, the project requires more auxiliary lanes to better connect. At Junction 105, new connector lanes will also be added, Montez said.

Overall, the 605 corridor has higher collision rates than the statewide freeway average. Montez said the improvements will reduce accidents caused by cars swerving to jump into the exit lane for another freeway or arterial street.

“This highway was built in 1960 based on the design criteria of that era, as well as the land use and population at the time,” Montez said. “It really needs to be updated and part of that is for safety.”

Dutra said he’s looking to reduce the number of accidents, saying he can’t count the number of times he’s woken up to news of a traffic collision on 605 and Beverly Boulevard in Whittier.

“Safety is fundamental to every decision we make. 710 has the most accidents but 605 is next,” said Dutra.

The project was originally expected to cost $5 billion. But Metro said no cost estimates are available at this time for the new project. A cost estimate can be developed after the preferred alternative is chosen.

Metro will consider starting a new Environmental Impact Report on the new project in the winter or early 2025. The environmental assessment could take two years, Montez said. A design package with a preferred alternative chosen by the Metro board can take four years to complete. Construction could take another four years, he said.

The next public meeting is Thursday, August 29th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at San Angelo Park, 245 S. San Angelo Ave., La Puente, CA 91746.

Originally published: August 15, 2024 at 3:34 p.m