5 widening: Collateral damage

Daniel Rojas' home is one of 20 in Norwalk slated to be demolished as part of the long-awaited widening of the 5 Freeway. The PT says five homes have already been leveled, but Rojas said he would like to stay:

Caltrans plans to clear Rojas' home and about 19 others to widen the Golden State (5) Freeway to 10 lanes - a $1.4 billion project that has now been fully financed by state and federal funds, city and transportation officials plan to announce today in Norwalk. The 8-mile expansion, which would stretch from the Artesia (91) Freeway to the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway, would include rebuilding the two-lane interchange at Carmenita Road.

Do you sympathize with Rojas? Hit COMMENT and speak out!

Comments

[Scrappy]

The majority of these homes being razed are in poor to very pool quality. Most of the owners purchashed the homes many years ago yet are being paid full fair market value, are having their relocation costs covered and will be locked in at their current tax rates if they move to an area of higher tax (section something, 13?). Instead of seeing this as a once in a lifetime oppotunity to start life over with a pile of cash they are crying foul. They are enjoying the benefits of the rapid rise in property value without having to go through the sale process, but still see their glass as half empty...sad!

[Josh]

It's the Santa Ana Freeway, you blogging genius, not the Golden State Freeway.

Shelby Grad must be one of those "Los Angeles natives" who knows every street between Bundy and Figueroa, but little else about So. Cal.

[Dmitriy]

simple solution, find lawyers that will be willing to take case to court and keep it their for next 10 years

[bg mendell]

Cheaper/immediate solution: rather than spending all those Billions on
widening the freeways.....get the illegal vehicles/drivers
(think Bob Clark's death) off the roads. its solved; its cheap; its immediate.

[Peter McFerrin]

Roger Waters,

In Los Angeles County, the 5 is in such desperate straits as far as capacity goes that adding another interchange to it would have created gridlock from the 605 to the 91. Not having an interchange from the eastbound 105 to the southbound 5 keeps several thousand cars an hour off of the already badly crowded 5.

Also, the 5 widening will require taking 20 residences. A 105 extension that didn't completely obliterate Imperial Highway would require taking a few hundred houses and destroying a park. That might be worth it to the region as a whole, but to the city of Norwalk it'd be a huge loss.

[Kelli]

Tough Luck! Bulldoze it...

[Roger Waters]

I wonder what the City of Norwalk's logic was in allowing the demolition of these homes to widen the 5, but not take down any other structures to extend the 105 to the 5.

[Michael L]

By the time they finish widening this road it will need to be widened again. At what point do we say that our freeway's are big enough? How much longer till we devote all of our land to roads? The relief will be brief unless we try to complete a comprehensive network of transportation that includes more than just roads. We need options.

[Graham]

I feel bad for him, but bring on the bulldozers. Widening the roads is long overdue.

[Russell Miller]

It's sad to have to give up a home, but this is one of the cases where "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one". They are only getting rid of 20 homes, and hopefully widening the 5 at this place will do small bit towards improving the commute for hundreds of thousands of commuters.

The traffic in the metro area is so bad that a little collateral damage to improve the commute is an acceptable price to pay.