Southwest Middle School student Israel Garcia, 14, helps with a gardening project during an event to kick off Caltrans’ Clean California “Community Days” this month.
(Meg McLaughlin / San Diego Union-Tribune)
SAN DIEGO —
Community groups and state agencies are working together in search of opportunities to reconnect neighborhoods torn apart decades ago to make way for freeways, as they install murals, parks, gardens and more along some of San Diego’s busiest roads.
In the 1950s and 1960s, freeway construction boomed. These stretches of highway would slice through urban neighborhoods — particularly poor communities of color — separating them not only physically from their neighbors but also from economic opportunity, according to U.S. Department of Transportation officials.
Now, community groups and government agencies like Caltrans District 11 in San Diego County are collaborating to rectify the harm through various beautification projects.
Read more at LA Times.