On Tuesday night, the City of Long Beach took the first step in what could be a long journey that would end with one of the largest freeway removal projects in Southern California history.  The Terminal Island Freeway cuts through west Long Beach and is one of the most under-utilized pieces of publicly owned space in Los Angeles.  Local advocates have dreamed of turning the part of  “freeway” north of the Pacific Coast Highway into a local street with the excess space turned into one of Long Beach’s largest parks.

The idea was just a dream, until Tuesday night.

Following nearly a dozen speakers representing environmentalists and the community surrounding the Freeway, all of whom supported the planned removal; the City Council voted unanimously to pursue a $300,000 Caltrans grant to officially study the removal and plan for next steps.

The Long Beach Post captures the quote of the night from Caleb Walker, who brought a dozen “cohorts” with him to the meeting and declared, “It is time to plant trees, not trucks.” 

Following the meeting, Streetsblog caught up to Brian Ulasszewski, a local Livable Streets advocate and architect who has worked on moving the Terminal Island Freeway Removal project from dream to reality since 2009.  “Its really exciting but the journey has only just started.”

Streetsblog will be there to cover the journey from beginning to end.