A revised, less dramatic 605 Freeway improvement project — far different from four years ago — will no longer seek to destroy any homes but could add another carpool lane and multiple feeder lanes to relieve the freeway’s bottlenecks with the 60, 5, 10 and 105 freeways, LA Metro officials reported.
Proponents say the two biggest goals are to cut some congestion and reduce the high number of accidents on the 27.4-mile-long eastern Los Angeles County freeway that carries 300,000 vehicles north and south daily.
But critics say these outcomes increase the vehicle miles traveled by motorists and create more air pollution and greenhouse gases.
The old design targeted 380 properties — including about 300 homes, apartments and multi-family units — mostly in Downey and Santa Fe Spring that would have been destroyed to pave the way for freeway widening.
That plan has been scrapped, said Carolos J. Montez, project manager, during a July 16 virtual meeting on the project.
“We’ve redesigned the project to stay within the freeway right-of-way,” he said. “It will fit within the footprint now and avoid taking residential homes.”
There is a caveat. The project may require taking slivers of some private property, but not “full acquisitions,” Montez said. For example, he cited expanding the offramp at Washington Boulevard, which may require taking some land. He said most of that land is commercial property along onramps and offramps.
To understand what Metro is planning — in conjunction with Caltrans — one has to first look back at the old project that caused a huge public outcry directed at Metro for proposing to take residential properties when housing is in short supply in L.A. County.
The 605 Freeway crosses over The 5 Freeway in Santa Fe Springs, CA, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. LACMTA is considering a new HOV lane and adding auxiliary lanes to the 10, 60, 5 and 105 freeways to smooth out bottlenecks along The 605 Freeway. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
In fact, once the plan was abandoned, LA Metro board member Ara Najarian criticized Metro planners who proposed it.
“Perhaps it would have been better if we had thought of a way to constrain it within the Caltrans right-of-way earlier on — rather than just scare the hell out of people,” Najarian said, according to minutes of a Metro meeting last year.
Najarian, the longest-tenured member of the board and a Glendale City Council member, said the reaction “galvanized an anti-MTA, anti-Caltrans, anti-vehicle consortium.”
Indeed, anti-freeway voices from nonprofits and environmental groups grew stronger. One group argued that adding a carpool lane and numerous feeder lanes into other freeways, or at numerous entries and exits, would attract more vehicle traffic at a time when global warming is raising temperatures, causing heat emergencies and fueling extreme wildfires.
“What they are proposing today is way better than 300-plus home acquisitions. They’ve stepped back,” said Joe Linton, editor of the transportation blog StreetsblogLA on Aug. 12, who has followed the project closely.
“It is a big win for the community,” Linton said, noting that under the previous plan the most affected communities were made up of more than 50% Black, Latino and Asian residents.
History shows that neighborhoods of color get slammed by freeways the most often. One example is the 210 Freeway in Pasadena which divided Black and brown neighborhoods from the rest of the city.
The project runs from the 10 to the 105 freeways. Improvements include auxiliary lanes to connect to the 10, 60, 5 and 105 and adding lanes to onramps and offramps. (image courtesy of LA Metro).
The 605 Freeway project area extends from the 10 to the 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’ll lose that barrier,” he said.
He said that adding miles of connector lanes and expanding single-lane onramps to two lanes will attract more vehicles that pollute the air and add to global warming. “Metro and Caltrans are stuck in a mentality of the 1950s — to keep widening all these freeways instead of thinking how to do transportation in an age of global warming,” Linton said.
“By adding more traffic lanes, auxiliary lanes and a carpool lane, that means more driving and more pollution,” he added.
Whittier City Council member Fernando Dutra, who is a member of the LA Metro board, would not say which alternative he prefers. A vote is expected in fall or winter. He called the new project “community friendly.”
“We are no longer considering taking properties to resolve construction issues. Now we are looking at redesigning the lanes, taking advantage of the right-of-way within the overall parameters,” Dutra said on Aug. 12.
He described the community around the project as being cautiously optimistic about the project.
The 605 Freeway, which runs from the 405 Freeway in Seal Beach to the 210 Freeway in Irwindale, has a carpool lane in each direction, known as a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lane. A vehicle with two or more occupants can use the HOV lane at no cost.
But studies show the 605 HOV lanes are jammed and operate at speeds of less than 45 mph more than 18% 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 build” option.
Alternative 2 would convert the HOV lanes into ExpressLanes, which can cost to use. Two occupants or more would ride free. But a single passenger vehicle would have to obtain a transponder and pay per usage. Rates vary with the traffic and travel speeds. This is known as “congestion pricing,” which Metro uses on the 110 and 10 freeway ExpressLanes.
“The incentive is to find a colleague or friend to carpool with you (for free),” Montez said. “To have single drivers use the toll lanes is based on congestion pricing. It is 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 ExpressLanes, and that low-income single-passenger motorists would remain stuck in heavy traffic.
Similarly, Alternative 3 converts the carpool lane to a toll lane but adds another lane — a second toll lane in each direction.
Alternative 4 keeps the existing HOV lane and adds a second HOV lane in each direction.
Another focus is adding lanes that widen connections to other freeways.
For example, from the northbound 605, a separate connector would extend to the 10 west. Also, at the 605/5, another lane — probably a carpool lane — would be added to reduce the bottleneck and collisions caused by weaving.
At the 60 Freeway the project calls for more auxiliary lanes to better connect. At the 105 junction, new connector lanes would also be added, Montez said.
Overall, the 605 corridor has collision rates higher than the statewide freeway average. Montez said the improvements would reduce accidents caused by cars swerving to jump into the exit lane for another freeway or an arterial street.
“This freeway was built in 1960 based on design criteria of that era, and on land use and population at that time,” Montez said. “It really needs to get updated and part of that is for safety.”
Dutra said he is looking at reducing the number of accidents, saying he can’t count how many times he’s awakened to the news about a traffic collision on the 605 and Beverly Boulevard in Whittier.
“Safety is foundational to any decision we make. The 710 has the most accidents, but the 605 is next,” Dutra said.
The project was originally expected to cost $5 billion. But Metro has said no cost estimates are available at this time for the new project. A cost estimate may 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 review may take two years, Montez said. A design package with a preferred alternative chosen by the Metro board may take four years to complete. Construction could take another four years, he said.
The next public meeting takes place on Thursday, Aug. 29, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at San Angelo Park, 245 S. San Angelo Ave., La Puente, CA 91746.
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