Plans for New Interchange by LAX Revived

Last April, Mike Stevens thought he’d won.

He and other airport expansion foes had successfully lobbied the Southern California Assn. of Governments to keep a new interchange for the San Diego Freeway in Inglewood from being added to a list of regional transportation improvements. But in a reversal, the regional planning agency last week voted to put the so-called Arbor Vitae exchange back on the table--fueling fears of those who live in the area that plans for greatly expanding Los Angeles International Airport are not as dead as some city leaders have said.

“We were appalled and mystified,” said Stevens, president of the group LAX Expansion No!

Before a transit improvement project can be funded, it must be placed on the regional transportation plan by the governments association. The interchange east of the airport would ease the flow of traffic from the freeway to LAX.

For opponents, that raises concerns that a plan to bring many more jets and passengers to the airport is alive, despite Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn’s statements that the $12-billion expansion favored by his predecessor, Richard Riordan, has been shelved. Hahn instead is proposing a smaller renovation project that would focus on security and air safety.

“The only purpose of the [interchange] is to support traffic to” LAX, said Harry Rose, director of communications for the Osage Neighborhood Assn. “I think my community is going to get rolled.”

But interchange backers say it is needed to ease freeway congestion between Century and Manchester boulevards.

“There is no interchange at Arbor Vitae [Street] and there is a lot of traffic at Century and Manchester,” said Renee Berlin of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s planning department. “It will improve east-west access in the area, improve safety and improve traffic time.”

John Vassiliades, the California Department of Transportation project manager for the Arbor Vitae interchange, said the project is simply “to provide relief to congestion.... This should not be held hostage to LAX expansion.”

The project was conceived in 1976, he said. Funding was set aside in 1980 for construction in 1983-84. But the project was often postponed for various reasons--from funding issues to calls for environmental studies to the outcry from anti-airport expansion groups.

Vassiliades said the project--which would widen the Arbor Vitae overpass from six to eight lanes, add an offramp from the northbound freeway to Arbor Vitae and create an onramp from Arbor Vitae to the southbound freeway--is still in the design phase. Plans for the north half of the interchange are not yet funded.

Work is expected to begin in 2004, he said. Construction is expected to last a year and cost about $55 million.

When completed, the interchange would provide new access to the Forum and Hollywood Park, Vassiliades said.

Increased traffic is what worries Stevens and other activists. “We’re concerned about the pollution it will bring ... the diesel trucks coming off the 405 and spewing their carcinogens,” he said.

Stevens says he feels betrayed by Southern California Assn. of Governments members who voted for the interchange, especially local representatives.

“Usually when the 405 bottlenecks, it’s in Inglewood,” said Glenda Wina, press deputy for county Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, whose district includes Inglewood. Burke is a proponent of the interchange who “wants to see traffic alleviated,” Wina said. “That’s what this is about.”