Terminal Island Freeway

Trucks using Terminal Island Freeway pass close to the playground at Hudson Elementary as pupils line up for their Halloween parade.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Youngsters on the playground at Hudson Elementary watch as a truck passes by on the Terminal Island Freeway. Parents and teachers are concerned about the pollution the schoolchildren and staff are exposed to because of the truck traffic.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Shipping containers are stacked high behind an onramp to the Terminal Island Freeway in the west Long Beach area, known locally as “Asthma Alley” because of high levels of the condition there.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Though not a truck route, Terminal Island Freeway is used more by trucks than by passenger vehicles.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Teacher Rob Aho hands out Frisbees to youngsters in his physical education class on the playground at Hudson Elementary as a truck looms in the background. School officials say the indoor air on campus is tested regularly to protect the pupils.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

A truck rolls by on the Terminal Island Freeway next to where Hudson Elementary pupil play and relax outside.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Hudson Elementary phys ed teacher Rob Aho conducts his class as a Union Pacific engine pulls its load along the tracks across from the school.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)