Bill Text: CA ACR38 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Freeway lids.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2023-09-14 - Ordered to inactive file at the request of Assembly Member Alvarez. [ACR38 Detail]
Download: California-2023-ACR38-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 38
| Introduced by Assembly Member Alvarez |
March 09, 2023 |
Relative to freeway lids.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 38, as introduced, Alvarez.
Freeway lids.
This measure would recognize the need to reunite communities split by the creation of the interstate highway system and the importance of freeway lids as a partial solution to that problem. The measure would also declare that the Legislature should utilize federal resources, in partnership with state agencies and local entities, to begin reconnecting these communities with, among other things, freeway lids.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: YESBill Text
WHEREAS, The United States government, led by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in collaboration with state governments, created an immense network of interstate highways that linked the vast majority of the nation in meaningful ways through the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956; and
WHEREAS, The construction of the interstate highway system was declared completed in 1992 after 36 years of construction and $114 billion spent, which is equivalent to $558 billion in 2021; and
WHEREAS, The United States government paid for 90 percent of the freeways while states provided the remaining 10 percent; and
WHEREAS, In exchange for providing the vast majority of the funding, the United States government dictated the route of the interstate highway system; and
WHEREAS, With this control of the layout, the United States government focused the route through dense metropolitan and urban areas; and
WHEREAS, Although the interstate highway system radically connected populations, underprivileged communities have been bifurcated and isolated by its creation and the route placement; and
WHEREAS, The federal Department of Transportation estimates that 475,000 households and more than one million people were displaced nationwide because of federally funded roadway construction; and
WHEREAS, This separation has resulted in a long list of unintended consequences, including, but not limited to, the creation of gang turfs, loss of community spaces, the separation of families, negative economic impacts, and a profound emotional footprint; and
WHEREAS, California played a role in the funding of the interstate highway system; and
WHEREAS, California has the mandate to rectify inequity when it presents itself; and
WHEREAS, Numerous cities across the nation have successfully employed freeway lids to correct the unfairness of the placement of the interstate highway system and capture its many benefits; and
WHEREAS, Freeway lids provide a cost efficient way to reconnect communities healthily and efficiently; and
WHEREAS, Freeway lids also provide an opportunity to create more space for the construction of parks, community centers, water storage, and housing while reducing both air and noise pollution; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby recognizes the need to reunite these communities split by the creation of the interstate highway system; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature also recognizes the importance of freeway lids as a partial solution to that problem; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature should utilize federal resources, in partnership with state agencies and local entities, to begin reconnecting these communities with, among other things, freeway lids; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
