Trucks Banned From Freeway Access Ramp
The Los Angeles City Council has approved a law barring trucks weighing more than three tons from entering the Golden State Freeway through 7th and Breed streets, an action prompted by residents seeking an end to decades of diesel noise and pollution.
The Boyle Heights neighborhood, that includes six schools, has attracted large volumes of traffic since the East Los Angeles freeway interchange was built during the early 1960s.
Tapping into lingering resentment over the interchange, residents recently campaigned to ban the roughly 3,000 large trucks that daily shake their homes while lumbering toward the Golden State onramp near 7th and Breed.
About 300 neighbors blame the diesel pollution for cancer and respiratory ailments in the community.
They decorated their frontyard gardens and windows along the 2400 block of 7th Street with homemade “No Trucks” signs, while peppering Eastside legislators with faxes and letters of protest.
Councilman Nick Pacheco responded by introducing the ordinance last month. The law, which was unanimously approved Wednesday, is expected to go into effect this summer. Pacheco additionally is investigating the possibility of banning large heavy trucks from all other residential areas of Boyle Heights.
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