LOS ANGELES — A decades-old plan to widen one of America's busiest cargo corridors was scrapped Thursday, as the agency acknowledged it must find a new way to lessen traffic without adding lanes.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously voted to end the $6 billion expansion plans for most of the 710 Freeway, where port-bound trucks idle in traffic-choked lanes and nearby communities struggle with high rates of asthma and poor health.
"It's monumental that one of the biggest urban areas of the country is really thinking twice, before prioritizing goods movements over health," said Laura Cortez, an organizer and co-executive director of the East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.
