As development has sprawled far beyond the mountain ranges that rim the Los Angeles Basin, the roads that cut through the hills have become some of the most vulnerable in the nation to mishap or disaster reports the Los Angeles Times.
The loss of even a single traffic corridor can cause costly delays — as the deadly fire that temporarily closed Interstate 5 last weekend proved once again.
Commuters and truckers were faced with finding alternatives to a stretch of freeway that handles nearly a quarter of a million vehicles a day in an area where mountains leave few options. It is a problem that urban planners agree will only get worse.
“If you have to blame it on anybody, blame it on the Spaniards, on the Conquistadors. They had a bad habit of building a city in a bowl,” said Alan E. Pisarski, author of “Commuting in America.”
“In our arrogance, we forget topography and geography. Every so often, we’re reminded.”
Local transportation experts say drastic changes will be needed to accommodate a population that is forecast to increase 60% over the coming decades — growing from 19.5 million in 2000 to 31.6 million by 2050.
As once remote areas on the other side of mountain ranges turn into major population centers, one of the few options to move more people from valley to valley is to tunnel through the mountains, a costly proposition that has drawn protests from some environmentalists.
Read it here: Hostage to Terrain