I-5 Authority Pushes to Exempt Widening Project from Mandated Equity and Environment Evaluation, Asserts Widening Freeway Cleans Air streetsblog.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from streetsblog.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Today, Metro delivered a presentation that revealed a few outlines of a new version of the agency’s plan to demolish hundreds of homes to widen the 605 and 5 Freeway in southeast L.A. County.
Metro’s 605 Freeway Corridor Improvement Project would spend billions of dollars to widen about 15 miles of the 605, plus other intersecting freeways. The 605CIP would widen about three miles of the 5 Freeway through the cities of Downey and Santa Fe Springs. Last August, Metro announced that the 605CIP would impact more than 1,200 properties – including demolishing more than 200 homes in the city of Downey. When Metro’s “drastically” increased demolition totals were announced, numerous parties weighed in against the proposal. In October, the Metro board passed a motion delaying the project, while directing staff to come up with less destructive alternatives.