A new legislatively mandated report is shedding light on California's ongoing freeway expansion. One takeaway is that Southern California has borne the brunt of harmful freeway widening, with L.A. County projects - where Caltrans partnered with Metro - resulting in mass demolition of homes and businesses.
L.A. County home and business demolitions (which Caltrans and Metro euphemistically term "relocations" and "property impacts") accounted for more than 95 percent of the overall statewide total (595 of 623). L.A. County home "relocations" were 96.5 percent (306 of 317) of the statewide total.
The report compiles data from Caltrans highway projects completed from 2018 to 2023. During that period Caltrans partnered with Metro to complete the following L.A. County freeway widenings:
- 405 Freeway widening in West Los Angeles - demolished 20 homes and 3 businesses
- 5 Freeway widening in the Gateway Cities (Downey to the Orange County limit) - demolished 286 homes and 280 businesses
- 5 Freeway widening in the Burbank area - demolished 3 businesses
(Caltrans completed an additional project without Metro: the Schuyler Heim Bridge replacement, serving the L.A. and Long Beach ports, which demolished 3 businesses.)
The Caltrans report notes that just one mega-project accounted for over 90 percent of statewide home and business displacement: Caltrans and Metro's 7-mile $2 billion 5 Freeway.
For more on that 5 Freeway project, see earlier Streetsblog coverage (2023, 2021, 2019, 2018) and L.A. Times coverage (2021) which includes informative graphics.
Metro and Caltrans are still widening lots of freeways throughout L.A. County, increasing congestion and pollution, harming health and climate. The report [starting on page 119] lists hundreds of planned L.A. County Caltrans highway projects in various stages; some are genuinely multi-modal and/or environmentally beneficial, but there's also plenty of freeway expansion. Metro is working with Caltrans to plan future expansion of the 5, 10, 14, 60, 71, 91 (multiple projects), 105, 110, 138, 405 (multiple projects), and 605 Freeways.
Several of these current and future Caltrans/Metro projects displace homes, businesses (and parks, schools, and likely more). It's difficult to find comprehensive information on future demolitions, but a few examples are known. Metro and Caltrans continue to displace homes for under-construction 71 Freeway widening. Full and partial demolitions are anticipated to be part of Metro/Caltrans 10 and 105 Freeway widenings that add new toll lanes.
Metro/Caltrans are planning to continue the southeast L.A. County 5 Freeway widening noted above (via a $5+billion mega-project expanding the 5, 10, 60, 105 and 605 Freeways), though Metro (responding to community pressure) has committed to "avoid" residential teardowns, anticipating only partial residential "property impacts."
