Freeways
Streetsblog California
Metro Board Suspended 710 Freeway Widening, Approved: Budget, Fareless, and Bus Rapid Transit
710 widening suspended, Fareless transit pilot approved, $8B FY22 budget approved, and Colorado Blvd route selected for Eagle Rock BRT
May 28, 2021
Busting Some Metro Highway Program FY22 Budget Myths
Yes, there are hundreds of millions' worth of highway widening. No, there aren't any bike lanes. No, these widenings are not what voters approved in Measure M.
May 26, 2021
Asm Patterson Blows Hot Air on “Highway Capacity Increase”
As California is figuring out how to put the brakes on its habit of expanding highways everywhere, the pushback over long-planned "legacy" projects has begun.
May 25, 2021
After Federal and State Partners’ Criticism, Metro Shifts Stance on 710 Freeway Widening
After EPA and Caltrans pulled the plug, Metro now seeks "to reframe the conversation to set a clear path where established principles that are agreed to by all stakeholders, including communities along the corridors, are reimagined to address issues like congestion and air quality and how highway investments are made."
May 19, 2021
Head of Caltrans Says Time to Pause Current 710 Freeway Expansion
Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin: "We're in a place right now where we want to put an absolute pause on this [710 Freeway] project in the format that it's currently in."
May 13, 2021
Environmental Protection Agency Nixes Metro and Caltrans’ Current Plan for Expanding Lower 710 Freeway
Dealing a blow to Metro's effort to fast-track expansion of the lower 710 Freeway, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has mandated that Metro follow air quality laws.
May 5, 2021
L.A. Times Opinion Piece Amplifies Call to Nix Metro’s Harmful Freeway Widening
"...why on earth is Metro prioritizing a problematic freeway expansion? ...at some point we need our transit agencies to draw a line in the sand. If they can’t end car-centric urban planning, they can certainly stop enabling it with freeway expansions."
April 6, 2021
Oregon Advocates Sue to Stop Racist Portland Highway Expansion
Advocates in Portland, Ore. have sued to stop the expansion of an urban renewal era highway project — and possibly writing the next page in the playbook for fighting bad urban freeway redesigns across the U.S.
April 6, 2021
Metro About to Green-Light Another Highway Mega-Project: North County 5 Freeway Widening
The I-5 North County project would add roughly 32 new lane miles, generating ~275M new vehicle miles travelled (VMT) per year, resulting in ~25,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
March 23, 2021
I-5 Authority Pushes to Exempt Widening Project from Mandated Equity and Environment Evaluation, Asserts Widening Freeway Cleans Air
I-5 JPA "Metro's recommendation for a holistic, equity based examination of the project regarding induced demand and greenhouse gas emissions... is an academic debate" not pertinent to this $5B highway project.
March 12, 2021
