CALTRANS has just released the Draft EIR/EIS 710 Corridor project for public review, including a schedule of related hearing times and locations. (Note that the first hearing is tomorrow.) The project is studying the I-710 Freeway between the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the Pomona Freeway, looking for ways to ease traffic and improve air quality along the busy corridor.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the Interstate 5 Joint Powers Authority have released the Draft EIR/EIS on the I-710 Corridor Project for a 60-day public review.
The environmental review is looking at proposals that would improve Interstate 710 (I-710) in Los Angeles County between Ocean Boulevard and State Route 60 (SR-60).
Major elements addressed in the Draft EIR/EIS include widening the I-710 freeway up to ten general purpose lanes (five lanes in each direction); modernizing and reconfiguring the I-405, SR-91 and a portion of the I-5 interchanges with the I-710; modernizing and reconfiguring most local arterial interchanges along the I-710; and looking at a provision of a separate four-lane freight corridor to be used by conventional or zero-emission trucks.
Caltrans and Metro will hold a series of public hearings in August to update the public on the Draft EIR/EIS and the potential effects this project may have on the environment. Those hearing dates are:
· August 7, 2012 (6 – 9 p.m.) – Progress Park, 15500 Downey Ave., Paramount, Calif.
· August 8, 2012, (6 – 9 p.m.) – Silverado Park Community Center, 1545 W. 31st Street, Long Beach, Calif.
· August 9, 2012 (4 – 8 p.m.) – Rosewood Park, 5600 Harbor Street, Commerce, Calif.
Electronic versions of the Draft EIR/EIS on compact disc also are available for review at public libraries throughout the I-710 corridor. The Draft EIR/EIS may also be viewed here.
In addition, copies of the Draft EIR/EIS are available for review at Caltrans District 7 Office, 100 South Main Street, in downtown Los Angeles; at Metro’s Dorothy Grey Transportation Library, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles; at Gateway Cities Council of Governments, 16401 Paramount Blvd., Paramount; at the City of Commerce Public Library, Bristow Park Branch, 1466 S. McDonnell Ave., Commerce; County of Los Angeles Public Library, 12000 South Garfield Ave., South Gate; the East Rancho Dominguez Library at 4205 East Compton Blvd, Compton; the Main Long Beach Public Library at 101 Pacific Ave, in Long Beach; and the Bret Harte Library at 1595 West Willow Street in Long Beach.
The public is encouraged to review the Draft EIR/EIR over the next 60 days and plan on attending the upcoming public hearings in August. The public is asked to assess whether or not the potential impacts have been addressed and provide any information that should be included in the final document. The public can submit written comments until August 29, 2012 to Ronald Kosinki, Caltrans District 7, Division of Environmental Planning, 100 South Main Street, MS 16A, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
Categories: Transportation News
This project is a financial non-starter. In the EIR/EIS and the feasibility reports prepared by Metro we are supposed to experience a 174% growth in traffic at the ports by 2035. We’re muddling through 5 years of negative or zero net growth, yet Metro has not revised its traffic projections.
Even in the “best case” scenario, Metro’s own findings make it clear that this proejct will send growth and jobs outside of Metro’s boundaries – meaning that this project cannot pay for itself, while sending money to Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
When the Panama Canal opens, LA/LB ports will be squeezed to keep a big chunk of shipping business that sends asian cargo inland. Ships can get to a port on the Gulf Coast or the East Coast faster and cheaper than dumping everything on the West Coast and having it transfered to a train or truck for delivery.
Did Metro revise its numbers to take into account the Panama Canal? No, Metro still predicts a 174% growth in container traffic at the ports by 2035.
We’re building for a future scenario that will never come to pass, and we’re doing it with money we don’t have on a freeway that even now never created enough growth to pay for its own maintenance.
The solution? We don’t need to expand the road, we need to toll it. We need to collect money from this massive pollution source to cover the costs of repaving it and mitigating the very real, and expensive, health problems this blight causes in Los Angeles County.
If Riverside or San Bernardino want to start paying their share of expenses, then I am on board with that.