It appears that Metro may not be proceeding with expanding the 91 Freeway through North Long Beach. Last night, Metro hosted a community input meeting for the project. Attendees roundly criticized the project, convincing elected leaders of the need to pull the plug on Metro and Caltrans' plans. For excellent coverage of the meeting please read Jason Ruiz' first hand account at Long Beach Watchdog.
Last night's meeting was a re-do of an earlier project meeting in June, where many expressed concerns and some felt they had been dismissed and disrespected by Metro responses. Last night Metro brought out key leadership: Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins and new Board of Directors Chair Janice Hahn, who represents the area on the County Board of Supervisors.
Metro and Caltrans are planning multiple 91 Freeway expansion projects throughout the southeast L.A. County cities of Artesia, Cerritos, Compton, and Long Beach. There are dozens more Metro/Caltrans freeway expansion projects throughout L.A. County.
These 91 Freeway projects would worsen pollution in already heavily pollution-burdened neighborhoods. North Long Beach, with two-thirds Latino and thirty percent Black residents, already has very unhealthy air; it is part of the 710 Freeway corridor termed a diesel death zone.
Last night's meeting focused on a project Metro and Caltrans call the Eastbound SR-91/Atlantic Avenue to Cherry Avenue Auxiliary Lane Improvements. The project would add lanes on the 91 Freeway, on its Atlantic Avenue ramps, and on the ramp connecting the northbound 710 to the eastbound 91. Metro and Caltrans exempted the project from full environmental review by claiming that it would only add a short "auxiliary lane" (a lane that just goes from one onramp to the next offramp) - but this is not true. The project adds a non-auxiliary lane, crossing Atlantic. The project would not tear out homes, but takes out much of an existing tree-lined Caltrans right-of-way.
Costs recently soared on this roughly mile-long project. 2021 estimates had been $88-95 million. In late 2024, the Metro board approved a $174 million project budget.
With the Metro board already having approved project funding, Car-Lite Long Beach's Erin Hoops thought the 91 project "seemed like a done deal." After attending last night's meeting, Hoops expressed hope for community resistance, "if a lot of people get really mad, we can do more about these harmful projects."
Car-Lite Long Beach's Kurt Canfield termed last night's meeting "tense," with many of the more than a hundred people in attendance "outraged" and "upset." Neighbors expressed concerns about air quality, noise, freeway vibrations, and how these would worsen with an additional lane moving freeway traffic about 25 feet closer to homes.
Again, according to Canfield, Metro countered the community's concerns with responses along the lines of: not expanding the 91 would mean more traffic cutting through neighborhood streets, and expanding the freeway would improve air quality because fewer cars will be idling. (These are long-disproven highway myths often trotted out by Metro and Caltrans to justify more and more lanes, at the expense of communities and climate.)
Hoops noted that "elected officials are really starting to listen," praising Long Beach City Councilmember Dr. Joni Ricks-Oddie and Supervisor Hahn.
Toward the end of the meeting, Councilmember Ricks-Oddie polled the room, asking for a show of hands from people in support of the project. One attendee raised their hand. When Ricks-Oddie called for people who didn't want the 91 project to move forward, around a hundred people raised their hands. A couple dozen Metro employees in attendance looked around, at each other, and down toward the carpet.
Ricks-Oddie summarized the results, "we're saying no to the 91 Freeway project." (Watch video shared by Hahn on Twitter.)
Hahn told the Long Beach Watchdog, “If this project doesn’t have a champion on the board, I think it’s pretty clear that we’re going to need to pull the plug... I think it was pretty clear this community didn’t want this project.”
"What we heard last night was a community that has faced decades of challenges because of their proximity to two freeways: poor air quality, crumbling foundations, and health issues," Hahn noted today in a written statement to Streetsblog. "When we have finally come to them with a project that would invest $174 million in their neighborhood, it’s to bring the freeway even closer to their homes." She concluded, "I understand that this project is about safety and easing congestion on the freeway, but it was clear that for this community that’s just not good enough.”
Streetsblog inquired as to the next steps. Hahn responded, "it will likely involve Metro winding the project down, fully reimbursing the project contractors for their work performed to date, and returning the funds that were dedicated to this effort. That includes over $100 million in local sales tax receipts that will go back to the Gateway Cities COG [Council of Governments] to decide what to do next." Supervisor Hahn is also trying to figure out how to get the residents air filters that were promised as part of this project, even if the project doesn’t happen.
Supervisor Hahn, as Metro board Chair, is the person best positioned to cancel the 91 Freeway project. The sooner the better, especially for the health and well-being of North Long Beach and neighboring communities.
