Freeway tramples area homes
Campus Times
December 11, 1998
To the surprise of most people, the Route 30 corridor is to be completed
by the year 2002. For some, this has no bearing because they do not know
that the 30 Freeway, which begins in La Verne where Interstate 210 (I-210)
ends and Foothill Boulevard begins, will barrel through La Verne, Claremont,
Upland and connect to the I-15 in Rancho Cucamonga.
But this might pose a dramatic problem for those who live in one of
the homes being displaced due to construction of this freeway. Their homes
are located between Foothill Boulevard and Baseline Avenue, the perimeter
of the upcoming freeway.
The expansion project was approved in 1979, but due to a lack of funding,
and has been delayed for two decades. The freeway will free up the gridlock
and congestion on Foothill Boulevard and its surrounding surface streets
during rush-hour traffic.
Since the government could not afford to buy the land the freeway was
supposed to be built on, the city approved homes to be built on this land
which would eventually be the Route 30 corridor.
Many people might frown on Caltrans for having to "buy out"
the homes from the people who have been living there for the past 10 or
15 years, or for the city for letting homes to be built on land that someday
might overrun these homes. The fact is that, ever since they moved in to
their homes, these people were forewarned that a new freeway might run them
out of their residences.
As for Caltrans buying people out, it has been more than generous in
offering more for the property that is going to be the footground for the
future Route 30 corridor than it is actually worth.
The implementation of a freeway has a number of effects on the community,
including economic, environmental and social impacts. The people who bought
homes in La Verne and in the path of the freeway are going to be bought
out of the La Verne community, so to speak, since there is no land available
to erect replacement housing. Since they knew that they would eventually
have to move and Caltrans seems to be rewarding them very generously, it
could be said that the only people to feel sorry for is anyone who did not
buy property in the path of the 30 Freeway.
