Air Board Officials Try To Balance Desperate Need For Housing, Freeway Health Risks
California regulators have previously said new homes shouldn't be built within 500 feet of freeways. But now, they're thinking about design strategies that could protect health and provide much needed housing options.
Los Angeles Times:
Regulators Warned Against Housing Near Freeways Due To Health Risks. Now They're Warming To It
Twelve years ago, California air quality officials delivered a warning to cities and counties: Avoid putting new homes in high-pollution zones within 500 feet of freeways. That advice, which relied on years of research linking traffic pollution to asthma, heart attacks and other health problems, was aimed at keeping "children and other vulnerable populations out of harm's way," according to the state Air Resources Board's 2005 handbook. (Barboza and Zahniser, 12/27)
Los Angeles Times:
Freeway Pollution Travels Farther Than We Thought. Here's How To Protect Yourself
If anyone knows where to find refuge from air pollution near Los Angeles freeways, it’s Suzanne Paulson.The UCLA atmospheric chemistry professor has spent years studying how invisible plumes of dirty air from car- and truck-choked roadways spread into surrounding neighborhoods — increasing residents’ risk of cancer, asthma, heart disease and other illnesses. So when she bought a home in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Santa Monica in 2007, she made sure it was on a quiet street far from the 10 Freeway — well beyond the 500-foot zone where California air quality regulators say it’s unhealthful to put homes, schools and day cares. (Barboza, 12/30)