The failed dream of a train to LAX

The I-105 or Century freeway is the last urban freeway to built in Los Angeles opening in 1995. The idea for this freeway began from the need to ease east-west traffic in the corridor between the 5, connect LAX and the nearby aerospace sector. Yet unlike the many other freeways that demolished neighborhoods, the 710, 110 and the 10, this freeway had strong opposition from the very beginning. So it landed in the courts, it was appealed multiple times until Judge Harry Pregerson decided to let the project move forward but on very specific conditions. It had to be multi-modal, The 105 precisely legitimized the downfall of freeways and freeway construction in general, people had woken up to the fact that freeways are harmful by displacing residents, being loud and polluting, in LA’s poorest neighborhoods. It was all on purpose.

Redlining is the term used to describe the racist policies towards minorities denying financial services keeping them trapped. It also shapes the way our city is laid out today. Many Black neighborhoods like the now non-existent ‘Sugar Hills’ in Santa Monica were wiped out by freeway construction. Minorities were only allowed to live in certain parts of the city. For example, In the 1930’s a Korean man would not be allowed to lease a home or buy a home in Beverly Hills. The reason why Beverly Hills, Malibu and the Palisades were able to escape freeway destruction was because of the wealthy citizens in those neighborhoods who successfully lobbied against the freeway, preserving their communities while minorities became displaced. 

Even today in 2025 the LA region is still choking in the fumes of car dependency. After bill SB 695 was signed 2 years ago, Caltrans finally released publicly accessible data on their freeway expansion projects over the last 5 years starting from 2018. And the most shocking part? Despite the large and wide resistance to more car lanes, Caltrans together with LA Metro built 96% of freeway projects in LA county out of the entire state of California. That is staggering and backwards. If we want to truly address our climate goals it’ll have to start with reducing SOV (Single occupancy vehicle) usage. That is the highest pollutant in the country. Freeway construction still involves eminent domain, wrecking people’s houses, property being taken and worsening air quality and increased vehicle usage where people are living, it’s almost purposely taking the land remaining around freeways and not improving them just expanding them for the sake of it. No real benefits and no mass transit benefits either.

Among transit enthusiasts, it’s often debated whether the green line should have ever been built in the first place. No freeway no green line or Yes to freeway with the green line mitigating that. And it’s hard to decide because Option 1 would take away one of the fastest east west connections in southern LA county taking away a crucial link to the A & K Lines. option 2 is basically justifying freeways as long as mass transit is included in the planning. 

The story starts in 1972, more than 20 years before the freeway even opened. A lawsuit was filed on violations of civil rights and NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act). This was the first move against the freeway but fell through, failing to stop it in its tracks. Yet in 1979 a consent degree imposed a multitude of conditions of the freeway’s development. One of those requirements were for a transit line, what would eventually become the green line. See, this is where Judge Harry Pregerson makes his debut. In his ruling, he required housing, public transit and even proposals for public services. His vision, you see was grand in scale and in implementation. Every Station on the green line would have a park and ride lot for commuters to bypass traffic. If only it had gone that way. It was a failure but not a success either just a stopgap measure, still one thing sticked. The Green Line still became the line for commuters optimized for solely that purpose. The problem became that it was a line for people with cars to make life easier not the usual purpose of helping those with without cars gain better mobility. While all stations have massive parking lots none have the commercial or housing space that the judge had called for. 

The construction of the freeway with all the lawsuits and opposition created an unsuitable environment for any more freeway construction and with that the end of the freeway era has arrived. The Marina or 90 freeway that was supposed to cut through more swaths of South LA into Orange County never got past the 405 after successful opposition in the 1960’s. This was originally designated as the saluson freeway, yet there is a gap. Along with the Beverly Hills freeway and Reseda Freeways that were never built, these losses put the climate of freeway building who’s goal was too make sure that ‘angeleno’s live no further than 4 miles from an freeway throughout the county. 

4 miles?! I live next to a freeway and let me tell you the noise, the pollution and general blight it is, what could have made me radicalized. Because tell me, there's got to be reasons that places far from freeways like Malibu, Palisades and Palos Verdes are such desirable places to live.

In this day of the year 2025, it terrifies me that they were many more freeways that could have been built with basically no resistance. The government could say "move out cause were building a freeway" here, people's civil rights and communities all across not just LA but all of SoCal wiped out and ignored. The only

solution to traffic is not more lanes, it's building and

incentivizing viable alternatives to driving.

If your wondering what's next? Good news, the new station called: LAX/Metro Transit Center is looking to open soon! It's going to be in April or May (please metro).

The K line will be serving Expo/Crenshaw (E Line transfer) down to Marine (Redondo Beach) station creating a north-south connection through LAX.

The C Line, last November took a big step changing it's westbound terminus from the South Bay curving left into Aviation/Century and soon LAX.

Thanks for reading, I've been meaning to write this article for a while and I'm looking forward to a real transit connection at LAX soon. While the green line was built as an consolation prize to the inevitable freeway and there is no denying that it was a flawed solution, it was better than nothing. If you feel your city can do better, don't be afraid to submit a public comment (or speak) in support or opposition because your voice matters, that's the defining story from the century freeway.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker