Boon or Bane? : Norwalk Tries to Tally Effect of New Freeway

The parched blocks, studded with lonely looking trees, were cleared of houses years ago. Nearby, carefully shaped mounds of earth rise gently upward, hovering above the flat plain. Soon they will be swarming with construction crews assembling a three-tier, $65-million interchange that marks the end of the line for the most expensive freeway ever built in the United States.

The 17.3-mile-long Century Freeway, first proposed about three decades ago, is creeping toward its 1993 completion date, when it will connect Los Angeles International Airport with Norwalk, making this blue-collar bedroom community the freeway hub of the Southeast. Locally the Century Freeway is perceived as both boon and bane, a monolithic project that has razed neighborhoods and could clog city streets with commuter traffic, but also could vitalize Norwalk’s sluggish commercial districts.

With a ground breaking Wednesday signaling the start of construction on the Century’s links to the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway and local roads, city officials are trying to gauge the probable effects of the Century’s opening five years from now. By and large, they are optimistic, saying the route to the airport and South Bay will help awaken Norwalk from its somewhat sleepy past. Yet they acknowledge residents’ worries that the $2.5-billion Century Freeway project will bring more traffic, more noise and dirt--and even more troublemakers from other parts of the county.

“I don’t know,” Councilman Mike Mendez said of the Century’s impact. “It could be great for us. It could be a real headache.”

Rail Tracks in Median

Running down the middle of the eight-lane freeway will be a futuristic light-rail system that will terminate at its Norwalk station, next to the interchange and a 2,060-space park-and-ride lot. All will be clustered near the intersection of Studebaker Road and Imperial Highway at the city’s western end, where the east-west Century Freeway will empty into the north-south 605 Freeway, and feed into Studebaker, Imperial and Firestone Boulevard.

City engineers predict the traffic on Imperial Highway--already the busiest street in Norwalk--will climb from 40,000 cars a day to 50,000. During peak periods, 1,400 cars an hour are expected to drive in and out of the park-and-ride lot.

As a major east-west road that will carry traffic to the Century, Imperial is expected to take the brunt of the traffic increase, Norwalk Traffic Engineer Carmen F. Gendusa said. To ease the flow of extra cars, turn lanes will be added and traffic signals will be upgraded, although it is unclear at this point who will pay for the work--the city or the state. Only signal work is planned for Studebaker, which is not as congested as Imperial, Gendusa said.

“I view it as a plus,” City Manager Richard R. Powers said of the Century’s arrival and the commuters it will draw. “I think we have to stay ahead of the potential increase in traffic volume.”

The city staff, which is starting a study of the Century’s projected impact, also plans to hold a series of community meetings over the next several weeks to discuss the interchange construction with local residents.

Residents’ Moods Mixed

In the neighborhoods bordering the interchange site, the mood seems mixed.

“I’m dreading it, really,” said Vicki Briggs, a Halcourt Avenue resident who lives next to the weedy fields destined to become the park-and-ride lot. “There’s going to be a lot more dust and a lot more traffic . . . if I was in a position, I’d sell the house.”

Down the street, John Denton is a bit more sanguine about the freeway project. “It’s been going on for so long, nobody is really arguing the point.” His biggest complaint, he added half jokingly, is that some of the cleared lots have been fenced off, preventing him from riding over the fields on his dirt bike.

The transit station will be one of 14 along the 20-mile light-rail line, which will extend from Norwalk along the middle of the freeway and then swing into the El Segundo business district. Electrified, driverless transit cars operated by computer will whisk riders from one end to the other in 29 minutes. During rush hours, the 230-passenger cars will arrive in the station every two minutes; during non-rush-hour periods, every six minutes.

Both the freeway interchange and the transit station are expected to attract commuters heavily from the east, giving them a major freeway route through cities just south of Los Angeles. Along with the 5 and the 605, the Century will be the third freeway to fall within Norwalk’s borders. A fourth, the 91, lies just half a mile away.

That web of regional highways, combined with the light-rail station, is expected to make Norwalk more alluring to businesses, a thought that warms the hearts of city officials hungry for more sales tax income.

Councilman Luigi A. Vernola, who owns a local service station, is also cheered by the thought of all those potential shoppers driving through the city to get to the Century Freeway and the rail station. “To me (the traffic) will generate funds for the businessmen,” Vernola said. Years ago, he added, he “didn’t like the idea” of the Century Freeway coming to Norwalk, but now the city has no choice but to take advantage of it.

“I see great developments cropping up in the area,” Councilwoman Grace F. Napolitano said. “You have a much larger market.” At the same time, Napolitano said “there are a lot of concerns” that the new freeway will bring further trouble to neighborhoods already harassed by the presence of the heavily used 605.

Among their worries is the park-and-ride lot, which will bring hundreds of people into what is virtually the back yard of several residential blocks. The area is plagued by burglaries, partly because it is open on one side, and some residents fear that the crime situation may worsen.