Limit the Toll for Sound Walls

The freeway and the neighborhood have never been much better than uneasy neighbors, and often they have been a lot worse. Much of Orange County’s transportation network tests this uncomfortable proximity of thundering vehicles and urbanized patches of backyard.

This situation has been aggravated by freeway widenings of recent years that have an obvious upside. Improvements bring clearer sailing on some of the most congested roads in California for many who live somewhere else. But as is the case in many infrastructure projects, there is a price to be paid for those living nearby. Whether roads are widened or sound walls are installed to ease the noise, there inevitably are some who experience disruption, and some who will have to relocate entirely so others can achieve this public benefit.

For much of the last decade, residents and businesses along the Santa Ana Freeway corridor between Santa Ana and Anaheim have put up with considerable impositions in the name of progress.

Now it is the Garden Grove Freeway’s turn, with a $250-million expansion planned by the Orange County Transportation Authority. There also are sound walls in the offing.

That means some relief is on the way as a result of years of lobbying by residents to get barriers erected where people live day and night with the roar of traffic. But there also will be dislocation, and every effort must be made by Caltrans, local elected officials and representatives in Sacramento to minimize the fallout.

Dozens of families on Anthony Avenue in Garden Grove recently got the encouraging news that their project was on the list of some $226 million worth of sound wall projects throughout the state announced by Gov. Gray Davis’ office. Some, unfortunately, will have to lose their homes to make room for the project, which will consist of at least four walls. Here is a case where a subgroup of noise-afflicted residents will have to pay an additional price so that their neighbors can have some relief.

These longtime homeowners deserve extra consideration. Officials should minimize the number of properties taken, and offer generous and prompt relocation assistance for anyone who will have to move. Caltrans says that offers will be made to homeowners and businesses, but that it won’t know who or how many will be affected until after an environmental review is done. The sooner there are answers, the better.